A DRUG dealer who claimed he found about £1,200 worth of ecstasy and amphetamines in a back road near a County Durham town has been jailed.

Shane Youll, 28, of Pine Street, Chester-le-Street, was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting to possession with intention to supply class A and B drugs.

Youll, a heroin addict, said he was cycling on back roads near Stanley when he found the drugs, along with a set of scales, in a bag left in undergrowth.

He admitted taking them home and stashing them in the shed of a house he was staying at with David Railton, in Broomhill, Stanley.

Judge Simon Hickey said he did not accept Youll’s version of events during a hearing at Durham Crown Court. He said: “I simply do not accept that you were biking along the road and you found a stash of drugs and scales.

"I have taken the view that he was a drug dealer and he had admitted that he was a drug dealer. I don’t accept his story for common sense reasons.”

Youll told the court he had been planning to take some of the drugs and sell the rest to make some money.

Paul Currer, mitigating for Youll, said: “He has been gripped by various addictions, initially alcohol. Although he succeeded in not relying on alcohol he replaced one addiction with another and became a user of heroin which caused him significant difficulties and has lived hand to mouth thereafter.”

He added: “He is a person particularly vulnerable and susceptible to the influence of others. He has been suffering from depression and experiences suicidal thoughts. He appreciates the hopelessness of his current situation and the problems his addiction is causing him but lacks the motivation or the strength of character to address the problem.”

The drugs were discovered by police, who had a warrant to search the house on September 12 last year. As well as 18.5 grams of MDMA (ecstasy), worth between £910 and £1,040, and 23.6g of amphetamines, worth £180, they found scales, £4,985 in cash and mobile phones which had messages relating to dealing drugs.

Railton, 26, was given nine months in prison after admitting allowing his home to be used in the supply of ecstasy and amphetamines.

Daniel Cordey, mitigating for Railton, said: “He was doing this as a favour not for any reward. He allowed, for a few days, his friend to store drugs at his house.”