A MAN caught red-handed by police with a mix of hard drugs at his flat was yesterday jailed for four years.

Shane Mawson, 23, was also growing cannabis at the time of the police raid, Durham Crown Court was told.

Ros Scott-Bell, prosecuting, said officers acting on a tip-off executed a search warrant at the premises, in Vicarage Flats, Brandon, near Durham, last April.

They recovered 11.7 grammes of cocaine, 48.5g of amphetamines, 113 LSD tablets, 200 ecstasy tablets and 182g of cannabis.

Officers also seized five mature cannabis plants.

When arrested Mawson said he had been "pushing it" for around two years, and claimed he was paid with a supply of drugs for his own use, plus a small amount of money for helping to store the various illicit substances.

James Adkin, mitigating, said it was estimated the street value of the drugs recovered in the raid was about £1,700.

But he told the court that Mawson "was being used by somebody else".

"Someone else brought them there and he would get £5 per transaction," said Mr Adkin.

He added that Mawson, who has no previous drug convictions, made very little money out of the enterprise.

Mawson, now of Tiree Close, Brandon, admitted three counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply, plus similar charges relating to class B and C drugs.

He also admitted a further offence of cultivating cannabis.

Imposing the prison sentence, Judge Peter Armstrong also made a nominal £1 recovery order from Mawson under the Drug Trafficking Act.

But the application was kept open enabling the Crown Prosecution Service to come back to court later to make a fuller application, if it is discovered that Mawson earned more from his involvement in the drug operation.