A COCAINE dealer who got into the trade to make easy money was caught after he got involved in a drunken fracas outside a nightclub.

Pinehurst man Jason Clark was found with hundreds of pounds worth of drugs packaged into smaller street deals in his pocket.

And when police raided the 20-year-old's home they uncovered more than £1,000 worth of the class A drug. Sarah Regan, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that Clark was originally arrested for being drunk and disorderly near a nightclub in February. "In the police car he was seen to be rummaging behind his back," she said.

"At the police station he was found with a screwed up plastic bag containing six smaller bags."

The smaller bags contained wraps of cocaine, she said, and together weighed 4.88g.

Officers then searched his home and found seven bags of skunk cannabis and cocaine weighing 18.1g.

When questioned, Clark told officers the drugs were for his own use.

At an earlier hearing Clark, of Beech Avenue, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing cocaine with intent to supply and one of possession of cannabis. Mark Ashley, defending, said: "He was in it for profit. He has no previous convictions for drug offences and he's not an addict."

Jailing him for three and a half years Recorder Ian Lawrie said "You are going to regret getting involved in someone else's squabble in the streets of Swindon. Drugs, I am afraid, are a scourge and have to be dealt with severely."