A DRUG dealer has been given a suspended prison sentence and a last chance to mend his ways.

Thomas Sedgewick, of Wolverton Common, Tadley, pleaded guilty at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court, on January 8, to possession of the controlled Class A drug MDMA with intent to supply.

He was arrested after a vehicle he was travelling in was stopped by police in Winchester Road, Basingstoke, at 12.30am on January 7.

The 21-year-old was in the vehicle with three friends after celebrating his birthday at the King of Wessex pub.

He was taken to Basingstoke police station and a strip search was conducted where officers found 10 wraps of MDMA.

At a sentencing hearing at Winchester Crown Court, the court heard that Sedgewick admitted possessing the drug in a police interview.

When his home was searched, officers recovered a digital scale and a cannabis grinder.

Sedgewick told officers he had been selling MDMA for eight months to acquaintances, and had made £1,000 to pay bills and fund his own drug habit.

Charles Durrant, defending said: “He has spent the money he has made, it would appear, on items that have sustained his living, instead of on luxury items.

“Mr Sedgewick is keen to move out of the area and has a very supportive family within the Hampshire area, and wants to move to his grandparent’s house in Somerset.”

Judge Ignatius Hughes told Sedgewick: “You are a man essentially of good character and are only 21, and I am going to give you a chance not to do it again.

“Make no mistake – in most of these cases you would be going to prison for four or five years and you would come out a different man. It is a chance most people don’t get.”

Sedgewick was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, and was ordered to take part in a six-month drug rehabilitation programme.