Two North-East cocaine dealers were jailed yesterday.

Karl Leddy, 27, worked as an electrician when he began using drugs and he fell into debt with his supplier who put him to work in pubs.

Teesside Crown Court was told how he was arrested with a friend Richard Whitehouse, 24, as they arrived at his girlfriend's house.

A search of a bedroom uncovered £500-worth of cocaine in a clear plastic bag, £520 in cash and traces of cocaine on a set of scales, said Karim Al-Hassan, prosecuting.

Whitehouse had cocaine in a plastic bag, and when his home was searched later, the police found five ecstasy pills, cannabis bush, cannabis resin and amphetamines.

Leddy told them that he used to have a bad cocaine habit and that it was going to be his "last blast".

Dan Cordey, mitigating, said that Leddy told him before the case: "It starts off as fun, but then it takes over your life."

Leddy and Whitehouse had spent three weeks in Holme House Prison, Stockton, their first time behind bars. Leddy was determined on release to earn an honest living and to put drugs behind him, said Mr Cordey.

Jim Withyman, mitigating for Whitehouse, a school computer technician, said he was buying cocaine in bulk with friends, and he now knew the danger of getting involved with drugs.

Both men pleaded guilty to cocaine possession with intent to supply after police raids on their homes in October last year.

Whitehouse of Rivermead Avenue, Darlington, who also admitted possession of ecstasy pills, cannabis bush and resin, and amphetamines, was jailed for two years and nine months.

Leddy of Firthmoor Crescent, Darlington, was jailed for two- and-a-half years.