A DRUG dealer caught with cannabis bagged and ready to be sold was today (Tuesday, January 22) jailed for a year.

Police found the packages when they raided Christopher Hawdon's Middlesbrough home in December 2011.

Officers also discovered a text message on his mobile telephone from a work colleague asking for a £20 bag.

Hawdon denied being a low-level street dealer but was convicted after a trial at Teesside Crown Court last month.

The 26-year-old was told by Judge George Moorhouse: "You know yourself that this has a serious effect on individuals.

"You have been a drug addict now for years . . . I am told you have been taking cannabis since you were 12.

"The public have to be protected and the message must go out loud and clear that people who meddle with drugs are committing a very serious offence."

Christopher Moran, mitigating, said Hawdon, of Alexander Terrace, Middlesbrough, had not been in trouble since his arrest.

"It has always been his biggest worry that he may never be able to get a job again, and having a conviction for supplying drugs is something that weighs heavily against that," he said.