A DRUG dealer caught with a bag with £1,000 worth of cannabis inside has walked free after it took police three years to bring him to court.

Ryan Thomas, from Blaenau Gwent, was arrested in the Splott area of Cardiff, on October 1, 2019, the city’s crown court was told.

Prosecutor Cat Jones said the delay lay in the “forensic aspect” of the case as police waited for tests to be done on the cannabis.

The astonished judge, Recorder Paul Hopkins QC, called the hold-up “extraordinary”.

He added: “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

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The court was told Thomas was arrested by South Wales Police officers in Madoc Road when he was a passenger in a Volkswagen Golf car.

They seized 167.4g of cannabis and £200 from the defendant who gave them a “no comment” interview.

Thomas, 25, of Queen Victoria Street, Tredegar, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply and being in breach of a suspended sentence.

The court was told how the defendant has an extensive criminal record and has served time in jail.

He has previous convictions for robbery, arson, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, possession of a bladed article in public and battery.

Megan Williams, representing Thomas, asked the judge to take into account the lengthy delay in bring her client to court.

Recorder Hopkins told the defendant: “You have a very troubling antecedent record.”

He added: “There has been a very significant delay.

“There is no satisfactory explanation as to the delay in this case and it is not your fault.

“It was an unnecessary period of time.”

The defendant was jailed for four months which was suspended for 18 months.

Thomas was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and made the subject of an electronically monitored curfew between 7pm and 6am for the next four months.

He was fined £50 and also told to pay £200 towards prosecution costs and a £122 victim surcharge.

Before he left the dock, the judge told Thomas: "You have been given a chance.

"By the skin of your teeth you are not going to prison today."

There was no application for a proceeds of crime investigation.