AN orphan who stored drugs at his home in return for £100 a week to spend on his pets has been jailed for three years.

Thomas Peters was approached by dealers to keep cocaine at his council house so they could evade being caught by police.

But officers raided the property in Thornaby, Teesside, after a tip-off and Peters led them directly to a shoe box in his bedroom where the drugs were stashed.

Eleven bags of cocaine, worth more than £10,000, were found along with a tiny amount of cannabis Peters used to combat a shoulder injury suffered in a car accident.

Peters, 28, of Roseberry View, admitted possessing a class A drug with intent to supply, and possessing a class C drug when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court yesterday.

Paul Newcombe, mitigating, said Peters was glad he had been caught last November because he would have been forced to do more if his association with the dealers had gone on longer.

After his arrest, Peters told police: "I made a pact with the devil and I couldn't get out of it."

Mr Newcombe said Peters was brought up by his grandparents, who are now dead, and has no aunts, uncles, cousins or siblings.

Judge Peter Armstrong told him: "Those who mind drugs play a central role in the chain of distribution because the real dealers get away with it."

Mr Newcombe said Peters did not benefit from the sale of the drugs other than the £100 a week he spent on caring for his animals.