Man avoids jail over hotel drug lab

A man from Bundaberg, in southern Queensland, has received a one-year suspended jail sentence for producing methamphetamines in a hotel room.

Joel Raymond McGowen, 28, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Bundaberg to one charge of producing dangerous drugs.

The court heard police were called to a hotel in Bundaberg in 2010 after cleaners found suspicious items in a room.

Police found a makeshift drug lab and McGowen's fingerprints on a fire extinguisher used in the procedure.

A vehicle which was checked into the room was pulled over by officers later that day and the defendant was found hiding under blankets in the boot.

Defence barrister Harry Fong told the court his client had been to rehabilitation and was trying to turn his life around.

Justice Duncan McMeekin accepted McGowen's plea for a second chance but warned him about reoffending.

Source: ABC News, 10 May 2012