A drug dealer caught red-handed in a city-centre bar has been jailed for a year.

Each weekend Rajiv Dhian Denyan, 27, took 20 or 30 bags of M-cat to sell on behalf of another person, York Crown Court was told.

Howard Shaw, prosecuting, said he was spotted dealing in Bar Salvation in the early hours of Thursday, March 15, by another customer, who alerted door staff.

While they searched him and found three bags of the Class B drug, his female companion left the club in Rougier Street and drove off.

Police later found a car outside Denyan’s home with 15 bags of M-cat in its glove compartment.

Inside the house were scales with traces of M-cat and 82 self-seal plastic bags similar to the ones containing M-cat. Altogether police found 16.95g of the drug.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, told Denyan: “You made a very clear commercial decision to get into drug dealing. I accept it is a decision you now bitterly regret.

“You went into this with open eyes. I am afraid the message has to go out that commercial dealing in illegal drugs will have consequences.”

Denyan, of Victoria Way, Huntington, cried in the dock as he was jailed for 12 months.

He pleaded guilty to possessing a Class B drug with intent to supply it to others.

His barrister, Chloe Fairley, said he had been going through a difficult patch financially and in his personal relationships.

“He started to mix with people who took M-cat and through them he himself was taking it.

‘‘It seemed like an easy way out financially. He wasn’t really thinking straight.”

His arrest had been a “wake-up call” and he was aware that he had brought shame upon himself and his family.

He was now taking a plumbing course in the hope of setting up his own business and was working as an agency worker to finance that and other personal expenses.