A CRACK cocaine dealer who enjoyed spending his drug money on Balenciaga and Valentino designer trainers has been locked up.

Harri Lasslett, 20, was caught with these luxury goods as well as a Moncler jacket when police raided a block of flats in Newport’s Sorrel Drive.

Prosecutor William Bebb told Cardiff Crown Court how officers also recovered a mobile phone with drug-related text messages and a bundle of cash.

He said Lasslett had been sending out text bombs offering “banging white” for sale.

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Mr Bebb added how the defendant was a “street level supplier”.

Lasslett, of Gibbs Road, Newport, admitted offering to supply crack cocaine.

He also pleaded guilty to possession of the class A drug with intent to supply.

The offences were committed on June 16, 2020.

The court heard how the defendant was sent to a young offender institution for three years in 2019 for possession of an imitation firearm.

Lasslett also has a previous conviction for possession of a class A drug with intent to supply when he was a juvenile.

Hilary Roberts, representing him, asked the court to give his client maximum credit for his early guilty pleas.

His barrister said: “He is distressed to go back to prison having not long come out after serving his last sentence.

“The defendant owed money within the drugs system from the time before.

“He did what he had to do. He bitterly regrets it.

“The defendant did it to repay a drug debt and did it with his eyes open.

“He’s got to take it on the chin.”

The judge, Recorder Mark Cotter QC, told Lasslett: “You were part of a shop selling drugs directly to users.”

The defendant was sent to a young offender institution for two years and eight months and ordered to pay a £190 victim surcharge upon his release.

Lasslett is due to face a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing on October 18.