A YOUNG dealer caught trafficking class A drugs for the third time tried to laugh it off by telling the police: “Happy days – I’m going to see the boys in prison.”

Aaron Bingham, 20, kicked and punched at officers after they saw him at work near Bettws Shopping Centre in Newport on his electric scooter.

Prosecutor Laurence Jones told Cardiff Crown Court: “This is the defendant’s third conviction for class A trafficking.

“This latest offence took place at around 10.35am on July 2 when police officers were on mobile patrol in the Bettws area in an unmarked vehicle.

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“They were on Tone Road near the Bettws shopping area which is well-known as a place where drug dealers and users meet for the sale of drugs.”

“The officers saw this defendant on an electric scooter.”

Mr Jones said Bingham “kicked out violently” and punched the police when they confronted him.

During the scuffle three white rocks of crack cocaine and a ball of heroin, worth around £140 and £120 respectively, fell out of the defendant’s pocket.

Bingham, formerly of Newport, now of Bryn Milwr, Hollybush, Cwmbran, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a class A drug with intent to supply.

He also admitted possession of cannabis and assaulting an emergency worker.

The defendant was locked up for 45 months for dealing heroin in May 2019.

These latest offences were committed after he had been release early from custody on licence

He received a referral order for trafficking class A drugs when he was a youth.

Scott Bowen, mitigating, said: “He is still a very young man and he’s very immature.

“The defendant is distraught that he’s going to spend much of his formative years behind bars.”

Judge Catherine Richards sent Bingham to a young offender institution for five years and eight months.