A COCAINE dealer who was caught after police saw him “towing” a cyclist while driving through Newport has been jailed.

Officers stopped ex-soldier Lee Phillips, aged 24, at the wheel of a Vauxhall Corsa and discovered he had 33 small bags of the class A drug inside the car.

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Newport Crown Court heard the defendant had a cocaine and cannabis habit and owed a dealer nearly £3,000 who had threatened him and his family.

Opening the case, prosecutor Joseff Morgan said: “The defendant was spotted driving on Durham Road with a cyclist holding on being towed by the Corsa.”

He said officers followed the car to St Julian’s Court on November 10, 2017, where, along with the drugs, they found £165 in cash inside the car along with an iPhone and Nokia mobile.

Mr Morgan told the court: “The defendant said to the police, ‘I have never seen these before in my life. It’s not mine.’”

The judge, Recorder Sean Bradley, heard how Phillips had refused to give detectives the passwords for his phones which had to be encrypted and delayed bringing the case to court.

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Phillips, of Colne Street, Newport, pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply and possessing cannabis.

Mr Morgan said he only had one unrelated previous conviction for resisting or obstructing a constable from 2015.

Jamie Campbell, mitigating, said his client had pleaded guilty at the very first opportunity.

He added that young father Phillips spent four years in the army and that “something happened” during his service.

Mr Campbell said: “He will not discuss that with me or with the author of his pre-sentence report what happened. It must have been something significant.”

The court heard that the defendant had spent time in hospital being treated for mental health problems.

Mr Campbell told the judge that Phillips had experienced problems with cocaine and cannabis addiction.

He said: “The defendant was in debt to a dealer of an amount approaching £3,000 and threats were made to him and to his family.

“He was a drug dealer for eight weeks and he made no significant financial benefit.”

Mr Campbell said that since November 2017, “he has turned his life around”.

But Recorder Bradley told Phillips that only an immediate custodial sentence could be justified and jailed him for two years and four months.