A DRUG dealer was caught after police stopped the car he was driving and found ecstasy tablets in the boot.

Leon Johnson was arrested after 28 tablets were found in a holdall in the vehicle that was stopped when it was at a Texaco filling station.

Prosecutor Russell Pyne said police had also seized his mobile phone which showed he was organising deals.

Southampton Crown Court was told how the 24-year-old of Ingleside, Netley Abbey, had begun dealing the tablets because he couldn’t pay his rent and his landlord had suggested he pay off the debt by peddling drugs.

His counsel David Reid said: “For him it seemed like an easy way out of a difficult problem.”

Johnson admitted one count of possessing a class A drug with intent to supply and was jailed for two years.