A CAR salesman who gave drugs to strangers at a party and took photos of women on the toilet must sign on to the sex offender’s register for seven years.

Described by his barrister as “a manchild”, James Morris, 36, of Hafod Road, Ponthir, received a suspended jail sentence yesterday.

Morris pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned in the supply of a class C drug, and three counts of observing a person doing a private act, at a court hearing on November 5.

Christian Howells, prosecuting, said that at 7.45am on Monday, May 4, this year, the police were called to Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital when two men were dumped out of a BMW car.

Paramedics standing outside A&E saw the defendant drive up and drag a man out of his car boot, whose trousers were round his ankles, and take another man out of the passenger seat and lie him on the floor before driving off. The men, who were both unconscious, had the drug GHB in their systems and one was taken to intensive care where he was placed into a medically induced coma.

The BMW was spotted at the back of Newport Central police station and police spoke to the defendant who claimed a friend had asked him to take him to hospital.

Morris, who earns up to £48,000 per year as a BMW car salesman and was given £200,000 by his former father-in-law, was interviewed later that day and told police he had been out in Newport city centre with a bottle of GHB which he takes as an aid to body building.

He told police he’d been to a party on Clytha Crescent where two men asked to try the clear liquid. Both were rendered unconscious after taking it, said Mr Howells, and Morris said he dropped them off on a service road near the hospital.Upon arrest his iPhone was seized and analysed, when three voyeuristic images taken over the top of a female toilet cubicle were found, Newport Crown Court heard.

He was arrested and interviewed again on July 25 when he said he had been under the influence of drugs.

David Leathley, mitigating, said dropping the men off at the hospital was “a better option than leaving them face down in the street in their own mess.”

“He is reminiscent of the sort of man-child that people like in the late Tommy Cooper,” he said.

Judge Philip Richards said: “That is an insult to the late Mr Cooper” and told Morris his offending “had to stop”. He said by suspending an 18-week prison sentence, given concurrently for each of Morris’ five offences, for two years, he had a chance to redeem himself. He will be subject to supervision for 18 months and must complete 60 hours unpaid work, as well as signing on to the sex offender’s register for seven years. Morris must pay £340 costs and an £80 victim surcharge.

Outside the court after the sentencing, an Argus photographer was injured in an alleged attack.

A Gwent Police spokesman said: “A 36-year-old man from the Ponthir area has been arrested on suspicion of assault and making threats to kill. He is currently being questioned in custody.”