A Colchester man accused of supplying a “legal high” to a 16-year-old girl which resulted in her and a friend being rushed to hospital after they became ill has been jailed for nine months.

Sentencing Shaun Wilson at Ipswich Crown Court, Recorder Mark Hoyle described what he had done as “evil” and said he should be ashamed of himself.

Wilson, 41, of Berberis Walk, Colchester, denied supplying a psychoactive substance in September 2016.

A jury took two hours to unanimously find him guilty.

Giving evidence during the trial Wilson claimed he didn’t know the teenager and hadn’t supplied drugs to her.

The court has heard that the 16-year-old girl and her 15-year-old friend began vomiting and hallucinating shortly after taking puffs from a joint which they believed contained cannabis but which turned out to be the “legal high” Spice.

One of the girls’ friends described the 16-year-old girl as writhing around on the ground and the 15-year-old screaming before becoming unconscious.

The girls were taken to Colchester Hospital where the 15-year-old was put in an induced coma.

They both later recovered.

The court heard that the 16-year-old girl had allegedly contacted Wilson to buy drugs while she was with three friends in Colchester.

The girl, who had allegedly bought drugs from Wilson before, arranged to meet him near a roundabout near Hawkins Road.

She allegedly gave Wilson £7 for a bag of what she thought was cannabis and she and her friends went to an area near some bins where they rolled half the contents of the bag into a joint.

The two girls and the 17-year-old had a few drags each but within a short term the girls suffered a serious reaction and passers by called an ambulance.

Police recovered the joint from a bin and when it was examined it was found to contain the psychoactive man made substance “Spice”.

A number for Wilson was allegedly found on the 16-year-old’s mobile phone and officers linked this to a Facebook account in Wilson’s name.

Michael Edmonds for Wilson said his client was an alcoholic and a drug addict.

He said the girl had known she was buying “Spice” and it wasn’t a question of Wilson pretending it was cannabis.

Detective constable Rachel Moss, investigating officer in the case, said: “Wilson supplied two young people with the Class B drug Spice, without a second thought for their safety.

“Both girls ended up gravely ill as a result and it is only luck that they recovered from their ordeal.

“Up and down the country we have seen a number of cases where the consequences of taking this substance have, like in this instance, been serious and in some cases tragic.

“Although the manufacture and sale of “legal highs” has now been banned, we know that they are still available and for that reason we are urging people to think twice before using them as in many cases these substances can be significantly stronger than even traditional types of illegal drug.

“If you are tempted to take any illegal substance, please think twice. The very nature of any type of illegal drug means you can never really know what it is you are taking and you could be placing yourself at serious risk of harm or even worse.”