A DRUG addict who turned to dealing to fund his habit has been jailed after selling crack cocaine and cocaine to an undercover police officer.

Andrew Perry was locked up for 15 months to send a message to other addicts tempted to take up dealing, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The defendant’s mobile phone number was passed to the undercover officer in July last year and they carried out their first deal for crack cocaine on the same day.

Perry then supplied the undercover officer with cocaine on August 6 when he turned up at his Billingham home searching for drugs.

Emma Atkinson, prosecuting, said the officer had been deployed in the Billingham area to target and identify people involved in selling drugs and made contact with Perry.

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She added: “The officer said the defendant intimated that he historically sold large amounts of crack cocaine and that somebody had recently enquired about purchasing a kilo of amphetamine and claimed to know how to make it in the bathtub.

“He also indicated that he could provide a dealer’s number for heroin on a future visit.”

Perry, of Cotswold Crescent, Billingham, pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.

Tom Bennett, mitigating, said his client was addressing his own drug addiction after being given an ultimatum by his partner following his arrest last year.

He added: “The defendant is somebody who has no previous convictions and he has expressed genuine remorse for the situation that he put himself in.

“He is someone who has taken steps himself to deal with his addiction, part of that stems from being in a long-term relationship with his partner and children.

“When this came to light, his partner gave him an ultimatum – her and the children or carry on his behaviour.”

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Judge Christopher Smith rejected a plea to suspend the 36-year-old’s sentence after he started taking steps to address his own addiction problems.

“He (the undercover officer) was put in touch with you and you directed to attend an address, you go in his car, a man you had never met before, and supplied him with cocaine.

“A week later you were happy to supply him once again,” he said.

“The message has to go out that people selling controlled drugs will be punished. The message has got to go out to deter other people from getting involved in this trade.”

Perry was jailed for 15 months.

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