A CANNABIS dealer who was twice caught with lock knives in his car has been jailed - after originally being stopped for a defective light.

Police caught Samuel James Foots, 21, with some of his illegal stash when they stopped his car in Lawrence Street, York, said Michael Morley, prosecuting.

On another occasion, they found a lock knife in his car.

They confiscated it and released him on bail.

But when they stopped him again, they found another lock knife in his vehicle.

Engineering student Foots, of Seaton Ross, east of York, pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis with intent to supply it to others.

He had previously been given a community order for two offences of having knives in public.

“It is not a harmless drug,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Foots about cannabis.

“You have been given chances by the court and you have been living a chaotic life.

“I am afraid I cannot do anything other than revoke the orders that were imposed for carrying knives on two separate occasions.”

Foots was jailed for 12 months for all offences.

“His lifestyle is really out of control and he really doesn’t know where to turn,” Foots’ solicitor advocate Graham Parkin told York Crown Court.

Mr Morley said police stopped Foots on June 11, 2019, because one of the lights on his car was out.

They smelt cannabis and he admitted he had some with him.

In the car was enough cannabis to fetch £110 on the streets, the court heard.

Police also found dealer lists with details of sales and profits.

Foots refused to give police the PIN number to his mobile phone.

But forensic scientists managed to get into it and found drug dealing messages going back six months.

Mr Parkin said Foots accepted he had been supplying to more than just his friends.

He had not committed any offences before June 2019.

He had got involved with drug use while at college and didn’t realise when his habit got out of control, the court was told.

He lost his job when he had revealed how he had been stopped by police, Mr Parkin added.

He had mental health issues that had not been helped by the isolation of lockdown and needed to tackle his drug use.

“He is in need of assistance,” said Mr Parkin.

“Only he can sort it out. He is trying now.”

Foots’ parents were standing by him and would have been with him at court if they could have come, Mr Parkin told the court.