A DEALER caught with nearly £13,000 worth of class A drugs in a Nike pencil case has been jailed for four years.

Jordan Moore ran off when police officers attempted to arrest him at his home in Cranbury Avenue for a completely different matter.

The 20-year-old was seen getting into his partner’s Mercedes and when it was searched officers realised Moore was responsible for “a substantial...one man band” drug operation.

Southampton Crown Court heard that Moore was in possession of six packages, which had inside at least two ounces of heroin and crack cocaine, as well as hundreds of individual wraps ready to be sold on the streets.

A lock-knife, which the prosecution believed was used to cut the cocaine, a knuckle-duster, bicarbonate of soda, often used a cutting agent, and scales were also found in the vehicle on July 17.

James Kellam, prosecuting, said: “The defendant tried to run off but didn’t get very far before he was detained by the officers.

“There were two phones which Moore had dropped as he ran off which showed numerous bulk marketing text messages that had been sent out.

“Inside the car there was a Nike pencil case which was stuffed full of crack cocaine and heroin. The street value of this was somewhere between £10,500 and £12,950.”

During interview, Moore answered no comment to questions asked.

In mitigation, Moore said he started dealing for “purely financial reasons” but was not “living a lavish lifestyle” sometimes associated with significant dealers.

Moore had numerous previous convictions from the youth court, including two separate incidents of possessing a blade in a public place and possessing drugs.

In sentencing Moore, Judge Peter Henry said: “This type of offending if first of all lucrative but secondly can harm drug users on the street.

“These people are addicted to heroin and crack cocaine and you only have to look at some of them to see what harm it does.”

Moore, of Cranbury Avenue, Newtown, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply and two counts of having an offensive weapon in a public place. He was sentenced to four years in a young offenders’ institute.