A DRUG dealer was caught with cocaine in his car after he crashed into a tree during a high-speed police chase.

Tomas Francombe, 34, of Blaendare Road, Pontypool, had mounted a kerb to avoid a stinger device as he sped through Blackwood and Ystrad Mynach.

Ieuan Rees, prosecuting, said the defendant’s car had false plates and the chase only ended when he “collided with a tree” last October.

Police found 14 bags of cocaine weighing 8.5g in the vehicle which had a potential street value of more than £1,000 and cash.

They also seized a mobile phone belonging to Francombe which contained drug-related messages relating to the “sale and purchase of cocaine”.

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Mr Rees told Cardiff Crown Court it was the second time the defendant had been caught with cocaine in the space of two months.

In August 2021, Francombe was arrested after being spotted “driving erratically” in Pontypool.

On that occasion, police found 8g of cocaine which could have been worth £1,040 on the streets.

Francombe was also being sentenced for trying to steal temporary traffic lights and two non-dwelling burglaries, all the offence being committed in Abertillery.

Tools worth around £20,000 were stolen during the burglaries, one at Abertillery MOT Centre in February 2020.

The defendant admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to supply, possession of criminal property, fraudulently using a registration mark and dangerous driving.

He also pleaded guilty to burglary and attempted theft.

Francombe had three previous convictions for three offences, including drug trafficking cannabis in 2016.

Richard Ace, mitigating, said: “The defendant was a hard-working man for many years but he fell on some bad times.”

The court was told Francombe was a former gas engineer who had struggled with the “abuse of drugs and alcohol”.

Mr Ace asked for his client’s guilty pleas and “genuine remorse” to be taken into consideration.

Judge Neil Bidder QC told Francombe: “You were evading the police and you were driving at an excessive speed.

“You drove onto a kerb and round a roundabout the wrong way and you eventually crashed.”

The defendant was jailed for four years and was banned from driving for 18 months following his release from prison.

He will have to sit an extended test if he wants to drive again.