A DRUG dealer who led police on a car chase through the streets of Bolton in the early hours of the morning has been jailed.

Bolton Crown Court heard Adam Ross was spotted by officers in a vehicle in June this year but drove off and went through a red light at 50mph in an effort to escape detection.

He later mounted the pavement to get through a dead end and abandoned his car and threw away a package containing heroin and crack cocaine.

But unfortunately for him his actions were spotted by a police helicopter and the items were recovered.

Ross, 27, previously confessed to dangerous driving, driving without insurance or a licence, possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply and possessing money involved in drug dealing and appeared in court to be sentenced.

Prosecutor Paul Hodgkinson revealed the quantities involved.

He said: “The helicopter reported the defendant was seen on leaving vehicle to run down a back alley and through over a garden fence a package.

“They found in it a back containing crack cocaine and heroin.

“There were 11.5 grams of heroin, and 2.2 full grams of cocaine.”

He added the heroin was split into two groups, some having a purity of 54 per cent and the other 20 per cent, and the defendant had also been found with £1,127 in cash.

The court also heard Ross had come under pressure to deal drugs because of debts from his use of cocaine but was not involved in street dealing.

Representing Ross, of Daisey Street in Bolton, defence counsel David Bruce asked for his client to spared jail due to his vulnerabilities.

He said: “I accept the case is so serious it crosses the custody threshold.

“He is a person who will be picked on within the prison system.

“He has a mother who is 71 years of age who he supports.”

Imposing a sentence, Judge Timothy Stead said: “I accept you felt pressure to take part in drug trafficking, trafficking of class A drugs, from those who you were in debt to because of your cocaine use.

“Nevertheless this is a choice you and no-one else had.”

He said of his decision to throw away the package: “You had the wisdom, and I use that term I hope advisedly, you are not so naïve as you knew how to deal with criminal evidence and to throw the package over a fence.”

He jailed him for 27 months and said he would normally have added an extra year for the dangerous driving, but opted not to do this as an act of “clemency” to Ross.

He also banned him from the roads for a period of three years.