A JUDGE has warned that those who take Ecstasy must be prepared to face the courts.

John Edwards, prosecuting, told the honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, that police caught Jonathan Steggell and Kaveh Najmabadi, both 19, with 43 Ecstasy tablets as they drove away from a Knaresborough house.

Exactly a week earlier the pair had been seen driving away from the same house.

York Crown Court heard that both had originally faced drug- dealing charges, but the prosecution had accepted pleas to possession on a barrister's advice.

Judge Hoffman told the two drug users: "Whether you thought it was the right thing to do, being in possession of Ecstasy is against the law."

Najmabadi, of Rigo Avenue, Knaresborough, and Jonathan Steggell, of The Avenue, Starbeck, both admitted possessing Ecstasy.

They were each ordered to carry out 120 hours' community punishment and pay £178 prosecution costs.

Updated: 11:28 Saturday, May 04, 2002