DRUG dealers were netted by an undercover police operation in a nightclub, Durham Crown Court was told.

Four men appeared there last Friday for sentencing after admitting supplying Class A drugs.

The court heard how in a covert operation, two police officers made several visits to Crocodillos nightclub in Chester-le-Street during September, October and November and made inquiries about obtaining drugs.

On two occasions they were supplied with ecstasy tablets by Barry Rutter, 21, from Woodside Gardens, Craghead and on other occasions they obtained them from William Horseman, 38, from Elwin Place, Pelton.

A third man, Matthew Sams, from The Avenue, Pelton, was also convicted of supplying class A drugs to the undercover officers inside the club.

But on Friday, Sams was deemed unfit to sit through proceedings, after suffering head injuries. He was attacked by a group of youths armed with baseball bats the night before the hearing and he will now be sentenced this Friday.

Judge John Milford QC heard how police had raided Horseman's home in Pelton on August 1 and uncovered 670 ecstasy tablets, 94 grams of amphetamine, 41 tranquilliser tablets and cannabis in a carrier bag. The street value of the haul was £5,600.

Horseman said they had been dropped off at his house by a man known only to him as 'Tie'. The man was Robert Tindale, 30, from The Brooms, Ouston, who told police he had found the bag of drugs while walking his dog in the early hours one morning.

Mr Eric Elliot, defending Rutter, said the 21-year-old had never had any other convictions and was seen as a hard-working young man who regularly got involved in community and voluntary ventures.

He said Rutter did not posses any drugs himself at the time of the operation and was effectively pointing the undercover officers in the direction of Sams, the recognised drug dealer in the club. He said Rutter gained nothing from supplying the drugs, other than the hope he might obtain one of the women's telephone numbers.

In mitigation, Mr Elliot said: "What he hoped was a relationship might result, but as it was a honeypot sting it didn't result in anything, because although he was given a telephone number, it was a very long telephone number."

Rutter was sentenced to 200 hours community service, Horseman was sentenced to two years nine months and Tindale was given an 18-month sentence.