A TEENAGE drug dealer avoided going into a young offender institution after he admitted supplying cannabis and offering to supply Valium.

Cole Wathen, aged 19, from Rifle Green, Blaenavon, was sent into youth custody for six months, suspended for 12 months, at Newport Crown Court.

The defendant had pleaded guilty to the offences, committed between July 2018 and this July in Pontypool, at an earlier hearing at Cardiff Crown Court.

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Judge Richard Williams heard in mitigation that Wathen was from a good family and had admitted the offences.

The defendant was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the community and undertake a six-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Wathen must pay £340 prosecution costs and a £115 victim surcharge.