A DOPEY drug dealer who managed to blow up his flat trying to cook up cannabis with a blowtorch and butane gas, has been jailed.

Hapless Ryan Doolan was jailed for three years after admitting to accidentally causing an explosion whilst he was producing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on June 8 last year.

The court heard the 22-year-old, from Hannahstone Avenue in Drongan, had used the potentially lethal combination of a blowtorch and butane gas to burn cannabis, before lighting a cigarette in the room which caused an explosion in the Barrmill flat.

His lawyer Tony Currie told the court: “He lit a cigarette and there was gasses omitting from this process and that’s what caused the explosion.

“He’s more than fortunate not to have been injured.”

Doolan was also charged with possession of a firearm after police searching the property found a stun gun disguised as a torch at the back of a kitchen cupboard.

Defending, Mr Currie said: “It was not operational. This was an item that was found during a more general search at the back of a kitchen cupboards. It was assessed by experts to be an instrument that requires charge and there was nothing found in the search that would charge it.”

Mr Currie said Doolan had got in with “a bad crowd” after moving to Ayrshire from Blackpool to live with his grandparents.

Doolan had found a flat in Dunlop Road in Barrmill where he quickly became involved in producing and supplying drugs.

His lawyer told the court: “He moved back to Scotland to live with his grandparents then moved out on his own to the locus.

He got into some very bad company and very bad habits, developing a significant abuse of cannabis and was smoking it on a regular basis.

“It was a private let he was staying in. He was asked to allow this process to be undertaken and he let that happen and the consequences were catastrophic. His naivety and misunderstanding of what could happen.

“His family have been in regular contact since this happened.”

The court heard the landlord of the flat, who also owned two other properties in the same block, had been left thousands of pounds out of pocket because of Doolan, and had been forced to sell the flat because the costs were so great.

Mr Currie said: “The landlord owned all three properties where this happened.

“This is a young man who is from a very supportive and good social background. His family have been aware of this and took him back down south.

“He has been working in the family business which has allowed him to pay some money back for the losses incurred by the landlord

“He accepts that the blame for this rests entirely at his feet. He accepts full responsibility.”

Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane jailed Doolan for three years for possession of a firearm and for 27months for producing and supplying THC and for culpably and recklessly using a blowtorch and butane gas and causing an explosion.

Both sentences will run concurrently.