A FATHER-TO-BE who said he had turned his life around is starting a prison sentence after being found with drugs stashed between his penis and scrotum.

Lewis Breckon pleaded with Judge Peter Armstrong after he was sentenced to 22 months' custody for possessing cocaine with intent to supply and possessing cannabis last October.

The court heard how the 24-year-old had led police officers on a car chase in Middlesbrough on October 17 before abandoning his Ford Fiesta and making off on foot.

He then slowed down to a walk and threw a Kinder plastic egg to the floor which had four bags of powder in it.

When he was searched at the police station where a further bag of cocaine was found between his penis and scrotum as well as two mobile phones and £160.20 in cash. A search of his home also uncovered further bags of the drug which was high in purity and valued at about £1,420. Scales were also recovered.

Nigel Soppitt, mitigating, said Breckon, of Osborne Road, Middlesbrough, had recently been released from prison for drug driving and drug offences and was a reformed character.

He said the joiner's life had fallen apart after a relationship ended and he started using drugs and then got into debt when he lost his job.

Mr Hadfield said he was then recruited by the his dealer to pay off the debt but had turned his life around in prison and was expecting his first child with his new partner who cried in the public gallery as he was sentenced.

Judge Peter Armstrong said 22 months was the lowest sentence he could pass for the charge of intent to supply - coupled with an extra month for possession which ran concurrently.