Rugby player jailed for drug offence

Terry Bridge

ROUGHYEDS’ Terry Bridge has been jailed for 10 months for possessing steroids with intent to supply.

The sentence comes only a day after it was announced the winger had been drafted into the first-team squad for pre-season training.

The 23-year-old, who had been playing for the reserves, had been running a shop called Advanced Nutrition, in Pemberton, where police discovered a haul of steroids with a black market value of £2,660.

Bridge, of Poplar Avenue, Wigan, admitted having a total of 19 different drugs, including a variety of testosterone substances as well as diazepam. He was sentenced alongside two disgraced St Helens police officers — detective constable Paul Fletcher and sergeant Paul Hornby — who were involved in the supply chain of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

Fletcher, of Downall Green Road, Wigan, was jailed for 71/2 years after Liverpool Crown Court was told that he admitted leaking confidential information to an underworld criminal and offering advice to a suspect being investigated for firearms offences.

Hornby, of Bembridge Court, Wigan, was jailed for three years and nine months after he was caught ordering drugs.

Det-Chief Insp Allan James, of Merseyside police, said the sentencing was a result of a robust investigation by the anti-corruption unit.

UK anti-doping chief executive Andy Parkinson said: “By attacking the supply chain and those that supply performance-enhancing substances, we stand a better chance of protecting the right of the clean athletes to compete in doping-free sport.”

Bridge, a highly-rated former Wigan St Cuthbert’s player, scored a hat-trick of tries in the reserves’ 29-24 grand final win against Widnes Vikings at Whitebank at the end of last season. He signed a contract with the Oldham RL Club until November, 2012 after impressing in the reserves. The club is now considering the player’s future.

Chairman Chris Hamilton said: “We had no idea whatsoever about any investigation.

“It was a complete shock. We are still very much finding about it and we are naturally very disappointed.

“As a club, we sign up to the Rugby Football League’s code of conduct regarding drugs. Involvement in drugs of any kind is a complete no-no and all players know of the consequences.”