EXECUTIVE, 45 HAD ECSTASY FOR HIS BIRTHDAY

A COMPANY executive who bought ecstasy pills at rave clubs to celebrate his
45th birthday with his wife and friends escaped a jail sentence when he
appeared in court yesterday.

Garath McGee, the UKP60,000-a-year regional manager of an American computer
company, was severely reprimanded by Roger Davies, the magistrate at
Horseferry Road court, south-west London.

Fining him UKP950 with UKP50 costs for illegal possession of drugs, Mr
Davies said his dabbling in a drug "that is killing teenagers" was a poor
example to others.

Mr Davies said: "What is a court to do with a person who had what he
believed to be 10 ecstasy tablets, with intent to supply them to his
wife and friends, when the newspapers are full of stories of teenagers
who die from just one consumption of the drug?"

He told McGee, father of an eight-year-old girl, of Abingdon, Oxfordshire:
"I am just surprised that you can be so ridiculous at your age. It is a
curious way for a man of your maturity and position to behave. The presence
of these drugs in society causes great alarm to parents and all those who
are responsible for young children."