A FORMER special constable who sold drugs in York was today jailed for six years.

Detectives caught Philip Andrew Steele, 33, red-handed with more than £10,000 of Ecstasy and other drugs, York Crown Court heard.

The court heard he had just handed 102 Ecstasy tablets to nightclubbing teenager Stephen Charles MacDonald, 18, who planned to pass them on to his large group of friends.

Police estimated Steele had netted nearly £16,000 over ten months from drug dealing, said Richard Scott, prosecuting. Steele disputes the figure.

Sentencing him for six drugs offences, Judge Paul Hoffman told Steele: "In one sense this represents the tip of the iceberg.

"You admitted to having dealt in drugs over a ten-month period and although you may not be the main man - it is very rare that one finds the main man in the dock - you were dealing in a very substantial way."

Steele, of Kirkcroft, Haxby, pleaded guilty to supplying Ecstasy to MacDonald, two charges of possessing Ecstasy with intent to supply, two of possessing amphetamine with intent to supply and one of possessing a small amount of cannabis.

MacDonald, of Knapton Close, Strensall, pleaded guilty to possessing Ecstasy with intent to supply. He was jailed for two years.

Prosecuting, Richard Scott said police followed Steele from his then home in Walmgate to Strensall, where MacDonald got into his car. As detectives closed in, MacDonald threw away 102 Ecstasy tablets worth between £765 and £1,020, but police recovered them.

In the car or in Steele's pockets they found another 806 Ecstasy tablets worth £6,000 and ten grams of amphetamine worth £100. In his Walmgate home, they found 179 Ecstasy tablets worth £1,340 and 211 grams of amphetamine worth £2,100 and £16 worth of cannabis.

For Steele, Simon Reevell said he had been a special constable and a "model citizen."

But the break-up of his marriage had led to him being involved in drugs. When he ran up a "significant" drug debt, his suppliers forced him to turn dealer to pay off his debt.

For MacDonald, Robert Collins said: "His chosen recreation is to take Ecstasy, go to nightclubs and dance. He is one of a large group of friends who pooled together their resources to buy Ecstasy."

North Yorkshire Police confirmed that Steele was a special constable from October 1996 to January 1997.

Updated: 16:49 Wednesday, July 04, 2001