A DRUG dealer living in his car was arrested by police after they spotted him driving using his windscreen wipers when it wasn’t raining.

Matthew Eastwick, 41, had just smoked a cannabis joint when he was pulled over by officers on patrol in Caerphilly.

William Bebb, prosecuting, said they found cocaine with a potential street value of £600 in the defendant’s Volkswagen Passat on Rhymney’s Church Street last summer.

They also discovered cannabis, 180 diazepam tablets and a Samsung mobile phone which implicated him.

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Mr Bebb told Cardiff Crown Court: “The defendant attracted the police’s attention when they saw him in his car using his windscreen wipers when it wasn’t raining.

“There were text messages showing that the defendant was engaged in the supply of class A, B and C drugs.

“There were references to flake and snow – cocaine.”

Eastwick, of Hillside View, Bargoed, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, cannabis and diazepam with intent to supply.

He also admitted being concerned in the supply of the class A, B and C drugs.

The offences were committed between November 2018 and July 2020.

Eastwick has 33 previous convictions for 65 offences including possession of cannabis with intent to supply from 2016.

Andrew Taylor, representing the defendant, said his client’s life had unravelled when he found himself homeless following his divorce.

He told the court: “He decided to live in his car, the one in which he was arrested by the police.

“This was not sophisticated drug dealing during where he was making huge sums of money.

“He was facilitating his own habit and he wishes to apologise for what he has done.”

The judge, Recorder Gavin Doig, told the defendant: “For around 20 months you were engaged in the supply of class A, B and C drugs.

“You had a significant role in this offending as you were selling directly to users.”

Eastwick was jailed for four years and ordered to pay a victim surcharge following his release from prison.