A 29-YEAR-OLD man escaped jail after attempting to sell chalk and malaria tablets to party-goers at Creamfields festival.

Daniel Cooper, from London, attended the Daresbury event in August last year and was found with a bag of 27 anti-malaria pills, concealed packets of chalk and £1000 cash.

Warrington Crown Court heard on Friday how Cooper – who has previous convictions for robbery, cocaine possession and cannabis possession – had intended to sell the contents off as drugs to the festival-goers.

John Oates, prosecuting, said: “An expert police officer said the 27 tablets, off a few colours, could have raised between £270-£540.”

Defence barrister William Staunton informed the court that Cooper currently works in the wine industry and hopes to visit Dubai next year to pass on his knowledge to others in the profession.

“He has been drug-free since the start of this year, has healthy earnings and a healthy lifestyle,” he said.

“I hope the court can see that this is a man that has genuinely changed.”

In his concluding judgement, Judge Rajeev Rama Shetty criticised Cooper for partaking in the ‘shabby enterprise’.

“What you did on August 23, or what you intended to do, was shameless,” he said.

“I have seen that you have been taking life seriously by working hard with the intent of conquering the problems of drugs.”

Cooper was handed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, as well as 80 hours of unpaid work plus court costs.