A judge has made an example of an Upton teen-ager who was carrying ecstasy worth up to £1,300 when searched by police.

Anthony O'Shea said he had been paid to look after the drugs but then confessed they were his.

Sentencing him at Worcester Crown Court, Judge Michael Mott told the 19-year-old that he intended to "ram the lesson home" that ecstasy was a dangerous drug which could kill, in the hope that others would resist the temptation to become dealers.

He ordered that O'Shea, of Hall Green, Upton, should serve four years' detention.

The judge said the defendant had become a commercial supplier. The evidence was in a notebook which contained a dealer's list.

O'Shea, who worked at McDonald's in The Foregate, Worcester, before he was sacked, was standing outside the restaurant with three other youths when police approached him on May 10.

They discovered two bags of drugs in his pockets. One contained 140 ecstasy tablets and the other 50 tablets, said prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe.

In the defendant's bedroom, police found plastic bags for supplying deals and the notebook.

O'Shea, who pleaded guilty to possession of ecstasy with intent to supply, finally admitted he bought a large quantity of the drug to get it at a discount price and shared it with his friends.

Samantha Forsyth, defending, said O'Shea had no previous convictions and came from a good family. His parents were horrified to see him in the dock and he was terrified of going into custody.

"He started going to nightclubs and taking ecstasy," she said. "The addiction grew and led to him being arrested."

Miss Forsyth said there was no evidence that he used his place of work as a base for dealing in drugs.

She added that O'Shea had squandered his education and let his family down.