A DRUG dealer said to have supplied a circle of friends refused to reveal the personal identification number on his mobile phone, a court heard.

Acting on information, police stopped Liam Edward Hogg as he drove on the A19 in County Durham, on February 5.

Durham Crown Court heard officers told him they were detaining him to search the car, upon which he replied that he had white powder on him.

Deborah Smithies, prosecuting, said a bundle of 42 bags containing 27.3g of cocaine was recovered from his right sock.

When arrested for possessing the drug with intent to supply, Hogg told officers he also had cocaine in his right trouser leg and cannabis in a sports bag in the passenger footwell.

Miss Smithies said Hogg was only a provisional licence holder and not insured to drive the Ford Focus.

When interviewed the following day, he made no comment and refused to give police the PIN number to his iPhone, seized on arrest.

Twenty-seven-year-old Hogg, of Christchurch Place, Peterlee, admitted being concerned in the supply of a class A drug, failing to disclose information on police request, possession of a class B drug, plus driving without insurance or a full licence.

Martin Scarborough, mitigating, told the court the former security guard, having found himself in financial difficulty, began to supply cocaine among a circle of about ten to 15 friends.

Mr Scarborough said Hogg did not want police to discover who he was supplying, so refused to pass on his PIN.

Jailing him for three years and three months, Recorder Christopher Knox told Hogg: “You took the risk of not disclosing the PIN number on your phone, making your own position worse by not owning up to the totality of what you were doing.

“That phone might have shown you were up to more than you might admit, and I take the adverse conclusion from that.”