A DRUG dealer who was caught after police discovered the car he was driving had no valid tax has been sent to prison.

Sean Vernall’s Audi was stopped in Evesham and he was found to have cocaine worth £340 on him.

He confessed he had been supplying the drug to friends and customers in pubs for 18 months, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Vernall, aged 24, of Cormorant Rise, Lower Wick, Worcester, was jailed for two and half years.

He pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine and possession of the drug with intent to supply.

A national computer check showed the Audi had no current tax when it was being driven in Abbey Road, Evesham, on March 27 last year, said Gareth Walters, prosecuting. A search of Vernall’s clothing revealed three wraps of cocaine.

He admitted dealing from September 27, 2007, after falling into debt with his drug supplier.

He would buy 14 grammes of cocaine on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and sold up to 15 deals a night at £40 a gramme.

His mobile phone, which was seized by police, had numerous messages on it from drug customers.

Nicholas Cartwright, defending, said Vernall moved to Evesham for a time and met a circle of drug users through his girlfriend, who was a cocaine addict herself. He began selling the drug to fund his own habit but, since his arrest, had given up cocaine after therapy.

Mr Cartwright said Vernall’s parents had banned him from going to Evesham and he had moved back to the family home in Worcester.

His mother was a professional and his father ran a business in the city.

Mr Cartwright said that Vernall, who now worked at a pub in Crowle, had been totally frank with police and there was little chance of him re-offending.

Judge John Cavell said it was a tragedy to see a young man with potential in the dock. But he said that people who sold class A drugs on a commercial basis had to be sent to prison.