A pub DJ who hid a dealer's drug stash at work walked free yesterday after a judge said that there were exceptional circumstances.

Christopher Hughes's secret was discovered at The Old Dun Cow in Darlington when the licensee checked the premises before an owners' inspection.

He found a carrier bag containing what turned out to be £1000 worth of cocaine hidden behind a sink in an unused upstairs room, said prosecutor Richard Herrmann. There was also digital scales with traces of cocaine and cannabis resin.

When the licensee asked 20-year-old Hughes, who was the landlady's son, if he knew anything about them he immediately said that they belonged to him and that he was looking after them for somebody else.

Hughes then went to Darlington police station where he admitted that he had been been given drugs to look after for £100, Teesside Crown Court was told.

He said that he hid them two days earlier and he expected to return them that day.

Dan Cordey, defending, said that Hughes had little money when he stupidly agreed to store the drugs. He confessed to the police before the licensee even reported the find to them.

He had no previous convictions, and after making a big mistake he was now a self-employed builder.

Judge Les Spittle told Hughes: "For those who are in possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply or supply it there has to be a prison sentence.

"You knew that what you were hiding away was drugs and they were being hidden away for a commercial benefit and that eventually they would get into the public community.

"This may just be one of those exceptional circumstances where I am not going to impose an immediate custodial sentence, but you are going to pay for it in more ways than one."

Hughes of Huntley Street, Darlington, was sentenced to 12 months detention suspended for two years and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work with £277 costs after he pleaded guilty to possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply it on 19 January.