A drug dealer who was stopped in his car twice in a week by police in Oswestry has been given a suspended prison sentence.

On the second occasion in Coppice Road, officers saw 24-year-old Louis Morris throw an ice-cream tub out of the car over the roof into a nearby garden.

It was the second time in a week Morris had been caught driving while under the influence of drugs.

As officers searched his Mini, a message was received on the defendant’s mobile phone with a request to buy cannabis.

At Shrewsbury Crown Court last Monday, Morris was given a total of eight months in prison, suspended for a year.

Judge Peter Barrie said it was clear that Morris had been street dealing, but recognised his efforts to get clear of drugs.

In addition, Morris was ordered to complete a rehabilitation programme and 80 hours’ unpaid work and was banned from driving for two years and must pay £100 costs.

Morris, a trainee chef, of Rosehill Drive, Whittington, had admitted failure to provide a blood sample and being in possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

Hugh Williams, prosecuting, said on July 5, when police approached the defendant’s car, the ice- cream carton that had been discarded was recovered and found to contain 18gms of skunk cannabis, worth around £180, in a plastic zip-bag, and a set of scales.

Officers recovered £130 in cash from Morris and the phone from behind the passenger seat. Apart from the text message received at the time, there was a list of ‘customers’ names and amounts of between £30 and £230 and a reference to him being stopped a week earlier and that he could ‘not go out on the streets’.

On the first occasion he was stopped, Morris had failed a roadside drugs test for which he was later banned by magistrates from driving for a year.

Danny Smith, for Morris, said his client’s addiction led him to get into debt with dealers who offered him a way out by dealing drugs.

He said he now realised the impact of drugs and was now clean and was putting his chaotic lifestyle behind him.