A CANNABIS dealer who tried to run from police while wearing just shorts as they raided his home has avoided an immediate prison sentence.

Police attended Kieran Stonier’s home in Fraser Road, Kings Worthy, on July 31, last year, to execute a drugs warrant.

As police got into position Stonier climbed over a double gate at the back of the house and was caught by two waiting officers, Winchester Crown Court heard on Friday.

Prosecutor Andy Houston said that the 21-year-old was wearing “only his shorts” when he tried to escape police, who later seized “a large number of items relating to cannabis”.

Mr Houston listed a number of items that were taken including a duffle bag holding two bags containing a kilo each of the drug - worth £10,000, 250grams of cannabis valued at £1,500, along with various amounts of herbal cannabis, a set of digital scales and more than £2,000 in cash.

Mr Houston said Stonier’s silver iPhone was also taken and examined which showed text messages consistent with being “concerned in the supply of various types of cannabis”.

The prosecutor added that Stonier was “buying cannabis in kilo and half kilo weight and was using others to sell cannabis on his behalf”.

Mitigating, Alexandra Wilson said that Stonier became involved in dealing cannabis to repay debts to his dealers after he became addicted but did not have a job to pay for the drugs.

Ms Wilson told the court that he had a “limited function” and was under the direction from those above him, who supplied him with the phone to sell cannabis, adding: “He also had no influence on those above him in the chain”.

She added: “I think this has been a scare for him and he does not understand how serious this offence was and does want to turn his life around.”

Stonier pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to being concerned in the supply of £13,075 of cannabis between July 1, 2019, and August 1, 2020.

Mr Recorder James Watson QC said that Stonier played a “significant role” in what he described as a “pro-active and commercial operation".

Stonier was handed a 14-month sentence suspended for 18 months. He must complete 19 Thinking Skills programme sessions, 20 rehabilitation days and 120 hours of unpaid work.

Two other counts of possessing criminal property of £2,200 and another count of trying to conceal/disguise/convert/transfer/remove that property will lie on file.