A CONVICTED drug dealer caught with a mobile phone in his prison cell after hiring it from a fellow convict has escaped an immediate prison sentence.

Joel Lia, aged 24, of Jamaica Grove, Coedkernew, Newport, was serving a “lengthy” jail term for trafficking crack cocaine when the device was discovered.

It was unearthed as he was coming towards the end of his sentence at Bridgend’s Parc Prison for possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply.

David Pugh, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court the phone was found in a bag of clothing in Lia’s single cell in April.

The judge, Recorder Simon Mills, heard how the defendant wasn’t the owner of the mobile but that it belonged to an inmate called Matthew Wheeler.

The phone was being “hired out” to other convicts at the rate of £5 for five calls.

Mr Pugh said Lia had used it to telephone his mother and girlfriend via his stepfather John O’Shea.

The court heard the number was stored on the phone as “Fat John or Fat J”.

Lia pleaded guilty to possessing without authority a mobile phone inside a prison,

Mr Pugh said Lia also had a record for possessing cannabis with intent to supply and affray.

The court heard how the defendant was released from his sentence in July while still awaiting the outcome of his current offence.

Paul Hewitt, mitigating, said his client had pleaded guilty at the very first opportunity.

Lia is living with his father, hoping to move back in with his partner and two children, and currently had two jobs, including one as a car trader.

Mr Hewitt said of his client: “He has good prospects and he has been assessed as being at a low-risk of serious reoffending.

“Mobile phones are prized possessions in prison but he was not using it to further any type of offending.

“He knows if he puts one foot out of step, he goes straight back to prison.”

Recorder Mills told the defendant cases of these kind usually result in immediate custodial sentences but he was able to draw back because Lia had found two jobs and there was a prospect of other permanent work.

He jailed him for 10 months, suspended for 12 months, and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of working for the community.

He told the defendant: “Do not breach the trust the court has placed in you. If you do, you know you will go to prison.”

Lia must also pay a victim surcharge.