A SHOP worker has been given a suspended prison sentence for dealing in skunk cannabis.

Daniel Hayman Jones, 20, was found to have 23.29g of the drug hidden behind a boiler when police raided his home on October 11, Austin Newman told York Crown Court in prosecution. 
He claimed he used to supply cannabis on a social basis to friends but had stopped some time before, put the cannabis behind the boiler and forgotten about it.

But police also found two sets of scales and mobile phones with text messages on them indicating that he had been supplying the drug from September 30 up to a week before his arrest.

He was released on bail and when police again raided his home on January 15, they found a small amount of cocaine and ChloroAlphaPPP, a Class B drug.

His barrister Alex Menary said: "He has now given up cannabis because he can no longer afford it."

Jones, of Bell Farm Avenue, York, pleaded guilty to possessing the cannabis with intent to supply it to others and possessing the other two drugs to use himself.

He was given a six-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months on condition that he does 60 hours' unpaid work.

Mr Newman said the cannabis was worth about £240 on the streets.

Mr Menary said since his arrest, Jones had got work working for an agency at McArthur Glen Designer Outlet.

"He clearly appreciates that the course has took in September and October last year is not the way to go," he said.

Jones was motivated to stay off drugs, he said.