A DRUG dealer who dealt cocaine to get out of debt has been jailed.

Ryan Montgomery, 21, of Cromer Avenue, Basildon, admitted supplying Class A drugs after being discovered by Essex Police’s Op Raptor South.

The officers were in an unmarked car and stopped a vehicle in Church Hill at around 6.25pm on Monday December 9 after a suspicious exchange took place.

Montgomery, the driver, had picked up another man and carried him in the car for a few metres before he got out again.

They arrested Montgomery and then proceeded to search his home after he admitted more drugs were there, and that they were “nothing to do with his father”.

In total, from the car and home, 14 grams of cocaine were found, with a total street value of £1,120.

Montgomery also had £8,000 worth of designer clothes in his home, which were all bought from the money made by drug dealing.

Montgomery appeared at Basildon Crown Court on Friday, dressed in a black coat.

In mitigation, the court heard he’d had a troubled upbringing and got into nearly £30,000 worth of debt, and had turned to drug dealing as a way of getting out of it.

Sentencing Montgomery, Recorder David Whittaker QC said: “The course you took to get out of debt was a criminal course and it’s one that brings misery to others who are addicted to that drug.

“This was a significant role you played.

“It was described as naive of you to deal drugs to get out of your financial difficulties.

“You were clearly into it to make profit.”

Montgomery received 28 months behind bars for his crime.