POLICE searching for a missing man thought they had found him when they saw a man walking along an Eastleigh road with a rucksack.

But Southampton Crown Court heard he was in fact a drug dealer who dumped the bag containing a stash of cannabis in bushes when he saw officers turning round their squad car.

Prosecutor Rachel Robertson said Alexander Horne denied carrying one but when bushes at the scene were searched, an officer recovered the bag and found it contained nearly £1,000 worth of the drug in deal bags.

Horne, a 23-year-old student, of Bramble Hill, Chandler’s Ford, admitted possession with intent to supply. He received a 12- month suspended sentence with nine months supervision.