A man ordered cannabis on the dark web in a bid to clear his debt by setting up as a dealer.

Mark Dornan, 22, of Craighall Street, Raploch, Stirling, was arrested after officers from the UK Border Force intercepted a parcel sent from Belgium.

The parcel was opened at a Royal Mail depot in Coventry, West Midlands, and found to contain more than half a kilo of the class B drug.

Police obtained a search warrant and raided Dornan's home on April 8.

They found a shoebox in his bedroom containing digital scales, nearly £570 in cash and what prosecutor Sarah Lumsden told Stirling Sheriff Court was "a card with notations on it".

They also found a message on an iPhone about an agreement to supply someone with a half-ounce of the drug, at £125.

Dornan pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of herbal cannabis.

Defence agent Frazer McCready said his client, a father of one, had no criminal record.

Mr McCready said: "He was having financial difficulties and was clearly beyond his means.

"Unfortunately rather than go to some sort of debt counselling, as he is now doing, he foolishly decided to embark on this exercise with regard to his debts by involving himself in the supply of cannabis.

"He borrowed money to purchase it over the internet and paid £2000 for it through a bank transfer.

"Clearly that type of drug was going to be intercepted, and it was."

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson told Dornan that despite the fact he had no offending history he had "no alternative" but to impose a six month jail sentence because of the value of the drug involved.