A TEENAGE drug dealer was behind bars for his birthday last night after twice being caught by police with hundreds of pounds worth of crack cocaine.

Michael Hodgkins admitted when he was arrested the first time that he was short of money because he had been evicted from his mother's Teesside home. Two months later, after a family reconciliation and after being given bail, police raided the house and found a huge stash of crack "rocks" in his bedroom.

A judge at Teesside Crown Court yesterday jailed Hodgkins, 19, yesterday, for two years and nine months after branding him a prime mover in the distribution of drugs.

The court heard how Hodgkins was first stopped by police in Thorntree Road, Thornaby, on November 2, last year, when he had £220 worth of drugs. He told officers he had bought eight rocks the previous day for a cut-price £100 and was planning to sell them for £20 each to make much-needed money.

After being questioned and bailed, Hodgkins made up with his mother and returned to the family home in the town's Hawthorn Road.

On January 20, police raided the house and found more than £900 in cash and drugs with a street value of almost £3,000 in the teenager's bedroom.

Carla Abrantes-Stanworth, prosecuting, said: "He said he had stopped supplying after the first offence but said greed got the better of him."

Aisha Wadoodi, mitigating, described Hodgkins as naive and easily-led, adding: "He is somebody who will pretty much do as he is told."

Hodgkins admitted two charges of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply and one of supplying Class A drugs.