A DRUG dealer caught with £3,200 worth of cocaine claimed to have picked up the wrong manbag, a court heard.

Iyaaz Cawsey ran from police when he was spotted "in the shadows" at the junction of Derby and Desborough Road in Eastleigh.

Southampton Crown Court heard how the defendant had refused to stop for two officers who shouted at him and even threatened him with a Taser.

Prosecution barrister, Richard Martin, told how Cawsey disposed of a manbag which was later found to contain 31g of cocaine and 4.7g of cannabis.

The defendant, who was 21-years-old at the time, also had £500 in cash.

Appearing at Southampton Crown Court, Cawsey, now 23, of Woodlands Way, Bursledon, previously pleaded guilty to the possession of cannabis.

Following a trial at the same court earlier this year, a jury found him guilty of possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

However, it acquitted him of possessing criminal property agreeing with the defence that the cash had been a loan from his family.

Martin told how Cawsey also has two previous convictions for supplying cannabis which date from 2015 and 2017.

Defending, Mark Ashley, said: "So far as his position is concerned back when this incident happened, he was in a very different place. He did not have the support of his family.

"He was sofa-surfing."

His barrister argued: "The main thrust is that he has turned himself around."

Mr Ashley mentioned that Cawsey is now in a stable relationship and works as a scaffolder.

At sentencing, the court Recorder, Miss Elisabeth Bussey-Jones, recounted some of the facts of the trial.

She told how Cawsey had claimed to have picked up an identical manbag from a home he was staying in, thinking it was his own.

For the offences which happened in April 2019, Miss Bussey-Jones jailed him for four years.

However, this sentence was reduced by 207 days for the time he has already spent on curfew.

He will be released on licence after serving half of his sentence.