A DRUG dealer said to have referred to himself as Pablo Escobar in tribute to the notorious Colombian crime lord has been caught drink driving.

Charlie Edmunds, 24, was at the wheel of a Peugeot Partner at The Coldra in Newport when he was arrested for being nearly twice the limit.  

The defendant was lucky to escape going to jail last month after he was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court for drug dealing.

Edmunds, from Caldicot, admitted supplying cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and cannabis whilst he was on bail or the subject of a suspended prison sentence.

The former chef had been given a “get out of jail free card” in 2020 for selling drugs but was back at it again shortly after.

But Edmunds walked out of Cardiff Crown Court by the front door rather than being taken away in a prison van after it took the police three years to charge him.

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He was handed another suspended prison sentence.

The defendant was back in court this month after he appeared before Newport magistrates for his drink driving offence.

The court heard he was caught on September 24 last year.

He pleaded guilty to being caught with 158 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

The legal limit is 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Edmunds was banned from driving for three years and four months.

He was fined £200 and must pay £85 costs.

When Edmunds was sentenced in February for his drug trafficking offences, prosecutor Daniel Jones told the court he had sent out text bombs to his customers.

He added: “The defendant called himself Pablo, perhaps a reference to Pablo Escobar.”

Judge Niclas Parry told Edmunds: “I'm going to suspend your sentence to reflect the unconscionable delay.

“That delay would have had no bearing but for the positive use you've made of that time and I think it would be entirely wasteful to put all of that at risk for what would be a comparatively short sentence.”

The defendant was jailed for two years suspended for two years.

Edmunds was ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and complete a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He had to pay £510 costs and a £156 victim surcharge.