A drug dealer with a stun gun in his kitchen drawer faces more than two years behind bars.

Police found 345 tablets of Ecstasy at one-armed Vincent John O'Donnell's home when they raided it, York Crown Court heard.

He claimed he used them as a painkiller to cope with constant pain caused by an accident many years ago that led to his arm being amputated. But a jury decided he was lying and convicted him of drug dealing.

Defence barrister John Edwards said since his client's arrest, O'Donnell had been using alcohol as a painkiller.

"Prison is going to be hard," he said.

"He won't be able to go to the pub, which is about the last legal means of dealing with the pain left to him. It is going to be hard."

O'Donnell, 43, of Thoresby Road, Acomb, York, denied possessing 345 tablets of Ecstasy with intent to supply, but was convicted by the jury. He admitted possessing a stun gun without permission. He was jailed for 27 months.

"Any chance of putting in an appeal and any chance of getting bail while waiting for it to be heard?," O'Donnell asked as dock staff prepared to take him to the court cells.

Recorder Deborah Sherwin told him she could not do anything and it was up to his barrister to tell him if he had grounds for an appeal. O'Donnell was taken to jail.

The judge told O'Donnell she sentenced him on the basis that the stun gun was unconnected with his drug activity. She heard police found it in his kitchen drawer in the raid. They also found £4,500 in cash in the house.

Mr Edward said O'Donnell bought the stun gun while on holiday with friends in the Netherlands. He played with it in the bars there and brought it back to the UK not knowing it was illegal. He had bought it because it was similar to cattle prods he used when working in the farming industry.