A MAN was caught with scores of ecstasy tablets after police responded to rowdy revellers fighting on a train.

Officers were called to deal with a disturbance on a train at Darlington station at about 3am on January 9.

After resolving the disorder, they saw Philip Baker acting suspiciously.

He was stopped and searched and police found a plastic bag in his pocket containing 93 ecstasy tablets.

A search of his home, in Lambton Street, Durham, revealed a small amount of cannabis resin in his bedroom.

Appearing at Durham Crown Court, Baker, now of Devonshire Road, Belmont, Durham, admitted possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply, and possession of cannabis.

The court heard how Baker, who recently turned 27, had pooled his funds with friends and gone by train to Newcastle to buy ecstasy from a dealer.

In mitigation, Jim Withyman told the court that his client had turned to ecstasy to combat depression.

He said Baker and his drug-using friends would pool their money and take it in turns to go and buy large numbers of ecstasy tablets at a discount price.

Mr Withyman said: "He was not a street dealer. He was not going out and selling to people who had not used previously."

Recorder Andrew Lees said Baker had narrowly avoided jail because he had turned his back on drugs and had found a job as a bricklayer.

He said: "Any conviction in respect of supplying Class A drugs, in whatever circumstances, would normally result in a lengthy custodial sentence.

It is a wicked drug, which causes severe problems.

"It would be an exceptional course not to send you to prison. But in your case I am going to take an exceptional course. Everything suggests to me that you are a man who is off drugs and getting away from the scene. I regard you as a man of good character. I hope I am not being deceived."

He sentenced Baker to a two-year community rehabilitation order, a 100-hour community punishment order and ordered him to pay £708 in costs.