A CRACK cocaine dealer has been jailed by a judge for a total of three years, nine months.

Police raided Robert Baines' home after he was arrested riding a stolen £300 mountain bike on May 6 last year A search warrant was executed at the property in Hundens Lane, Darlington, where police found various items including a CS spray canister in a drawer and a lump of cannabis resin.

They also recovered four wraps of crack cocaine in the defendant's jacket, along with a set of scales with traces of the drug on it.

Prosecuting, Graeme Gaston told Teesside Crown Court that £1,070 in cash was seized, including £1,010 which was stashed inside a video cassette box, along with a 'debt list' of names.

Baines, 25, admitted possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply, possession of cannabis, a class C drug, and possessing an offensive weapon.

Paul Cleasby, mitigating, said he had made a full confession to a probation officer, rather than choosing to "chance his arm" by denying the offences and going to a jury trial.

Mr Cleasby said he had recently completed 300 hours work in the community which showed he was a man capable of knuckling down and completing work when he was given it.

He said: "Being sent to jail fills him with a great deal of dread."

As well as jailing him, Judge George Moorhouse ordered that the drugs and other items seized be destroyed.