A COCAINE dealer was caught with drugs, cash and drug-related text messages on his iPhone in his BMW after police stopped him for driving “erratically”.

John Miles, who had a previous conviction for producing cannabis, was pulled over in Caerphilly, prosecutor Tony Trigg said.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how officers found cocaine with a purity of up to 82 per cent in his car with a potential street value of £450.

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Mr Trigg said: “It is likely the drugs would have been further adulterated before being used.”

He told how police also discovered £710 cash, plastic resealable bags and the iPhone with messages indicating he was selling drugs.

The judge, Recorder Simon Mills, heard how Miles had nine previous convictions for 13 offences, including assault and the production of cannabis in 2012.

The court heard how the defendant was selling cocaine on a “social basis to friends and associates rather than the wider community”.

The 36-year-old Miles pleaded guilty to possessing a class A drug with intent to supply just days before he was due to stand trial.

The offence was committed on September 23 last year.

There was no Proceeds of Crime Act application and the drugs will be forfeited and destroyed.

Kevin Seal, mitigating, said: “The defendant has turned his life around since the commission of this offence.”

He told the judge how Miles had voluntarily enrolled with the Gwent Drug and Alcohol Service and was no longer involved with those he had sold cocaine to at the time.

Recorder Mills said to the defendant: “The case against you was strong and you should have admitted your guilt earlier.

“You were a supplier at the bottom end of the chain.”

The judge said that involvement in drug trafficking “funds organised crime and misery”.

Miles, of Llanfedw Close, Caerphilly, was jailed for three years and told he must pay a victim surcharge upon his release from prison.