Margaret River teacher Hamish Gibson pleads guilty to drug charges including possessing MDMA

An award-winning science teacher has admitted to a string of charges that sprung from a police investigation into drug-laced lollipops at a South West school. Former Georgiana Molloy Anglican School staff member Hamish Kane Gibson, who was once recognised as one of the nation’s best science and engineering teachers, pleaded guilty to four separate charges in Margaret River Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning. Gibson admitted to stuffing a clip-seal bag of methylamphetamine down his pants in his back shed when police arrived at his Margaret River home to conduct a search on August 9 last year. The court heard that when he was approached by police, the ex-teacher shouted “don’t touch me” before being restrained and stripped by police to obtain the evidence. Further investigation of the shed uncovered a capsule filler and empty capsules hidden on top of a safe. The search was sparked as part of an investigation into drug-laced lollipops at a South West school, but Gibson has not been accused of creating the sweets that prompted the inquiry. Magistrate Benjamin Tyers handed down $800 in total fines after Gibson pleaded guilty to hindering police and possessing a category two item without a lawful excuse on Monday morning. The man also admitted to possessing MDMA with intent to sell or supply and possessing another prohibited drug with intent to sell supply, but is yet to be sentenced for the two charges. The initial investigation began in August 2021 when a teenager suffered hallucinations and other symptoms after being given one of the suspect candies by a peer, which South West police later believed to be laced with drugs. Gibson has since lost his position with the school as a result of the charges laid against him, with his wife Desiree Francis Gibson convicted on four drug charges, including cultivating a prohibited plant later that same month. Gibson will next appear in Busselton District Court for a sentence mention hearing in June.