A ROOKIE drug dealer was caught after police in an unmarked car spotted him riding on a motorbike without number plates through the centre of Newport.

While being chased, Liam Sheppard, aged 20, hurled away two plastic bags with cannabis and cash inside, Richard Ace, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court.

Officers arrested him and recovered £184.80 in notes and coins and 27 bags of skunk with a potential street value of £280.

Mr Ace told the court how police also seized an iPhone and a Nokia mobile which contained 80 drug-related text messages.

Sheppard, of Constable Drive, Newport, pleaded guilty to possessing a controlled drug of class B with intent to supply, the offence committed on January 7, 2018.

He had first seen by officers riding at the Old Green roundabout.

Mr Ace asked for the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and mobile phones and for the cash to be seized by police.

He said the defendant had a “limited antecedent history” with no previous convictions for drug offences.

A pre-sentence report on Sheppard revealed that he had been “using cannabis daily” and his arrest had acted as a “wake-up call”.

The court heard he had the “prospect of employment in a scrapyard business” and that “he expresses remorse to the court and his family”.

Christopher Evans, representing Sheppard, said: “The greatest mitigation is his guilty plea.”

His barrister added: “This was low level street dealing to fund the cannabis habit he had at the time. He was not living a lavish lifestyle.”

Judge Timothy Petts told Sheppard he had been advertising cannabis for sale on his phone.

He added: “You tried to throw away the evidence.”

The judge sent the defendant to youth custody for eight months, suspended for 18 months.

He told Sheppard that he must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and both mobile phones and for the cash to be handed over.

Judge Petts commented that it was “poor” that the case had taken more than a year to reach its conclusion.