A DRUG dealer from Darlington who was released from prison then set himself back up in business, was jailed for eight years yesterday.

Window cleaner Anthony Medd, 37, made almost £190,000 in four months from selling Ecstasy tablets and cannabis, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Judge Michael Taylor, who ordered the confiscation of £32,242 worth of Medd's assets, said: "I have to protect the public from you for a fairly lengthy period."

Last October, a jury found Medd, of Windermere Court, Darlington, guilty of conspiracy to supply Ecstasy and cannabis between May and September 2000.

The court heard how a stash of drugs buried by another man in a field off the town's Neasham Road, finally led them to Medd.

Officers spotted a man searching in the field, and once he had left, uncovered a stash of drugs buried under a stone gatepost, said Peter Makepeace, prosecuting.

The haul included 208 Ecstasy tablets and four 9oz bars of cannabis.

He said that police replaced them with stones and arrested Brett Skelton, 23, when he returned and found the switch.

In the police car taking Skelton from the scene he told officers he knew who the drugs belonged to, but that if he said any more he would get a good hiding, the court heard.

A check on his mobile phone showed that in the previous week he made 79 calls on his mobile to Medd - three from the field itself.

When Medd's home was searched, police found a CS gas spray and an air pistol, which was a replica. Behind a picture rail was a bag with traces of cocaine, and under his bedroom floorboards was a dealer's list.

Medd had been jailed for 30 months in September 1997 for two offences of being concerned in the supply of Ecstasy and cannabis. Since his latest arrest his house had been repossessed and he would leave prison with nothing, said Paul Cleasby, defending.

Skelton, of The Leas, Darlington, also admitted conspiracy to supply Ecstasy and cannabis. The storeman was jailed for 18 months and his Daihatsu Charade car was confiscated.

Stephen Ashurst, for Skelton, said he was an otherwise decent young man who had been supplying friends with Ecstasy.