A teenage drug dealer caught with hundreds of pounds worth of hard drugs has been jailed for two years.

Julian Finn was chatting to a man wanted on warrant when he was spotted by a passing policewoman close to the magistrates’ court in Chippenham.

After she spoke to the man she recognised the officer carried out a drugs search on the 18-year-old Londoner because of who he was talking to.

And in his pockets she found dozens of street deals of heroin and cocaine which he planned to sell in the town.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon crown court that PC Dixon was driving along Avenue La Fleche on Friday June 4 when she saw the men.

When she asked Finn if he had any class A drugs he indicated they were in his back pocket.

She found three packages, containing 31 wraps of cocaine, and 23 and 30 wraps of heroin.

In total Mr Meeke said the drugs, which were all in street deals of £10 or £20, had a total value of about £1,000.

Finn, of Stoke Newington, London, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.

David Hunter, defending, said his client had a supportive family but when he was about ten years old he witnessed domestic violence in the home.

He said he had an older brother who went to college and was now working in the City and a younger brother who was still at school.

In the past he said Finn had been a trainee footballer at the Queens Park Rangers academy but left to concentrate on his GCSEs, passing five.

Mr Hunter said his client had been raised in Hackney, one of the most deprived areas in the country, where crime was high it had been commonplace to see people dealing drugs.

He said one of his qualifications was in sports science and he hoped to get on a course where he could get FA coaching badges to train footballers at under 16 level.

Jailing him Judge Euan Ambrose said “It is not said that you were working for someone else. It is said that you were in this to make money.

“It hardly needs to be said that class A drugs cause enormous social harm. They cause great to the people who use them, to the families of those who use them and to the general public who are affected by the crime to pay for these drugs and that is to say nothing of the exploitation in the production of these drugs.

“If you are caught dealing in class A drugs you can expect to go to prison.”