TWO teenagers who sold the drug ecstasy are free today after a blunder by the Crown Prosecution Service in Hampshire.

A judge said the pair, aged 18 and 19, should have been locked up but he was forced to let them go on a legal technicality.

They were charged with and pleaded guilty to dealing in "very small" amounts of cannabis resin and ecstasy tablets, Portsmouth Crown Court was told.

But it emerged that the defendants had admitted to police during interviews that they had been selling up to 300 ecstasy tablets from a flat at Mandarin Road, Gosport.

Judge Stuart Jones said the charges were "unrealistic" and he felt his sentencing powers were inadequate to reflect the seriousness of the evidence. He said if the original barrister had framed the charges correctly, the two "lucky" men would have been sentenced to a term in a young offenders' institution. Instead they were ordered to carry out 180 hours labour each for needy people.

The judge added: "It is clear someone took their eye off the ball at the non-sentencing stage of the court process and it was not cleverly dealt with. However, I make it clear I will deal with the defendants as has been explained to me under the original charges they have pleaded guilty to."

Paul Dugdale, prosecuting, accepted the charges did not reflect the seriousness of the drug dealing. He was granted court time to try and frame new charges to take into account the judge's criticism, but accepted the Crown did not have the power to amend the charges because the case had gone too far.

Judge Jones made it clear Mr Dugdale escaped his criticism.

The judge told the convicted men: "I have been forced to take a different and more lenient approach to sentencing. You are extremely fortunate. You are both lucky not to be going to a young offenders' institution."

Simon Courtney, 18, now of Park Road, Gosport, and Adam Shaw, 19, now of Priory Road, Gosport, both admitted supplying small quantities of ecstasy and cannabis resin, a Class A and a Class B drug, to people.

The judge said the charges should have been framed to be specimen examples of larger-scale dealing over three months.

Courtney also admitted possession of Class A and Class B drugs and Shaw admitted two counts of possessing class A drugs.

Co-accused Cameron Allan, 21, now of London, but previously of Mandarin Road, Gosport, admitted possessing a small amount of cocaine and of supplying Courtney and Shaw with 12oz of cannabis. He was sentenced to a 120-hour community punishment order.