A DRUG dealer caught selling Ecstasy in a Sunderland city centre alleyway has been jailed for two years.

Paul Crossley, 22, was spotted acting suspiciously by an off-duty policeman and a prison officer.

They kept watch as a stream of buyers approached him, shook his hand and walked away.

PC David Wilson called for back-up and directed other officers to Crossley, who was standing near Brogans pub.

Crossley, a convicted robber, of Lindsey Close, Sunderland, threw his bag into nearby bushes when he saw a police car approach.

It was found to contain 16 tablets of the Class A drug.

Roger Elsey, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court that PC Wilson and prison officer Brian Jones were walking through the city at 9pm on July 7.

He said they became suspicious of Crossley when they saw people come up to him as he stood in the alley. They kept watch and saw him dealing in drugs.

Mr Elsey said: "They used a mobile phone to call other officers. The defendant saw police approaching and threw his bag into some bushes."

When first interviewed, Crossly claimed he had simply been shaking hands with people he knew and denied selling drugs.

He was bailed but failed to appear. When re-interviewed he said the tablets in his bag were for his own use.

Judge Esmond Faulks told Crossley, who admitted two charges of supplying Ecstasy, one of possession with intent to supply, and one of failing to answer police bail, that drug dealing was a "scourge".

Crossley was also given three months to run concurrently for failing to answer police bail.