A DRUG dealer who was caught with £7,500 worth of crack cocaine and a knuckle-duster has been jailed.

Kyle Humphries, 24, from Caerphilly, was an addict who was selling to other heavy users to fund his own habit.

Nicholas Gedge, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court how the defendant was arrested with a “female companion” outside a flat in Merthyr Tydfil over unrelated matters.

The woman with Humphries had said to him, “Tell them the truth. I’m not getting the blame for you.”

Mr Gedge said the defendant told the officers: “Everything illegal in the flat is mine.”

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After they searched the property, police found six small bags of crack cocaine weighing around 70g which had a potential street value of £7,500.

They also recovered £400 in cash.

When police searched Humphries’ home address in Caerphilly, they discovered the black knuckle-duster.

The defendant, of Brynhyfryd, Pontlottyn, pleaded guilty to possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply.

There was an accepted basis of plea he was “a long-term crack cocaine addict and he supplied a limited number of adult users with established addictions”.

He also admitted possession of an offensive weapon in a private place.

The offences took place on January 26.

Humphries had previous convictions for handling stolen goods and possession of heroin.

Byron Broadstock, mitigating, said his client had struggled with cocaine misuse for five years and had turned to drug dealing to help him fund his addiction.

His barrister added: “He wasn’t somebody living some kind of a lavish lifestyle.

“This was somebody living a very ordinary lifestyle and doing what he could, illegally of course, to support that habit that has unfortunately blighted him for some time.”

The judge, Recorder John Philpotts, jailed him for 34 months for possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply and a further two months for possession of an offensive weapon in a private place.

He will serve half of his three-year prison sentence in custody and was ordered to pay a victim surcharge following his release.