A MAN'S first venture into drug dealing became a substantial involvement in the trade, a court heard.

Gary Latcham, 32, who has no previous record for drug offences, was yesterday jailed at Durham Crown Court for four years and six months.

The court also ordered the confiscation of £20,854, said to be the realisable proceeds of his drug dealing.

It was found during a search of his mother's home, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, last September.

Anne Richardson, prosecuting, said officers recovered three bags of white powder from a jacket and two bags from a case on top of a cupboard, all in his former bedroom. Four of the bags contained 215.6 grammes of cocaine, worth a total of £15,095.

Officers also recovered £3,788 in cash, 19 bank paying in slips and two used tickets for flights to Alicante, Spain.

Latcham, arrested at his ex-wife's address the next day, was said to be receiving £155 a week income support.

But Miss Richardson said it emerged he was buying a house with a £38,000 mortgage, in Plantation Walk, Fir Tree, near Crook, for which he had paid a £2,000 deposit. It has since been valued at £55,000.

Peter Makepeace, for Latcham, said he had been "fully co-operative, coming clean from the start".

Latcham admitted supplying cocaine and possession with intent to supply.

Recorder Christopher Attwooll told him: "Clearly this may have been your first venture into drugs dealing, but it was a substantial one."