A DRUGS dealer was caught after a police chase through Southampton - first on bikes and then on foot.

Tinda Susu, 23, panicked when he saw a police bike patrol as he was speaking to a group of men in the inner-city area. He grabbed a BMX and rode off as fast as he could, with an officer in pursuit.

Prosecutor Eleanor Fargin outlined how Susu at one stage discarded a blue package but the officer ignored it and carried on the chase. Susu fell off when he hit a speed bump and was eventually caught after a further pursuit on foot.

He was found with four mobile phones, £200 and when officers recovered the bag, they found he had been carrying cocaine and heroin worth about £10,000, with almost 90 packages already arranged into £20 deals.

Susu, of Aston Road, Basingstoke, pleaded guilty at Southampton Crown Court to possessing both hard drugs with intent to supply and was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

In mitigation, Kier Monteith described how Susu had been "touched by the evil hand of drugs" at college, became addicted to cocaine and fell into debt with his dealer, who made him carry drugs so he could distance himself from the distribution.

"He was preyed upon and had to do things so the supplier could remain outside the law," the lawyer explained. "He was told to go down to Southampton to pay off money but it wasn't accepted and he knew he was going to be in charge of drugs and would assist in their sale.

"When he saw the patrol, he became scared and rode off on the BMW bike, knowing what would happen if he got caught."

Passing sentence, Judge John Boggis QC referred to a letter which Susu had written to the court which put him "in good stead", in which he expressed his remorse, his difficult upbringing and how he had fallen into drugs.

"I commend the way you have tried to turn things around and you want to come out clean putting all this behind you. You were a street dealer dragged into debt. These were a lot of drugs, you were there to sell them and you must pay the consequences."