A DRUG supplier has been jailed for three-and-a-half years after police heard his cousin setting up a deal on his mobile phone as they walked past their car.

Driver Wayne Coates, 34, had the windows of his Vauxhall Vectra down as passenger Kevin Smith asked a caller: "How many rocks do you want, mate?"

Police pulled the pair from the parked car - despite Smith claiming he was ordering a cup of tea from a caf - and searched them and the vehicle. Three rocks of crack cocaine were found in 40-year-old Smith's socks, and heroin and a baseball bat were found in the car.

Coates, of Ingram Road, Middlesbrough, admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs and possessing an offensive weapon at earlier hearings but had failed to turn up at court to be sentenced.

Smith, of Aubrey Street, Middlesbrough, was jailed for three-and-a-half years in February after he admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Yesterday, part-time pizza delivery driver Coates was back in court where he was told by Judge Peter Fox: "It is over a year now since you were caught for this drug dealing at street level and much of that delay is down to you."

Graeme Gaston, prosecuting, said the pair were arrested in Waterloo Road, Middlesbrough, at about 2.30pm on May 7 last year as Smith was using his mobile phone.