WHEN POLICE raided the Stroud flat of a teenage drug-dealer’s heavily pregnant partner they found a £16,000 block of cocaine under a bed, a stash of knives and a stun gun, a court heard yesterday.

They also discovered an assortment of drug paraphernalia including electronic scales, clingfilm wraps and mobile phones containing drug-dealing messages, Gloucester crown court was told.

Zak Jackson, now 19, but who was only 17 at the time of the offences, pleaded guilty to possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply and possessing a prohibited weapon, both offences committed in Matthew’s Way on February 12 last year.

Jackson, of Mason Road, Stroud, was sentenced to 23 months in a Young Offenders Institution.

The court heard that the police had attended the address for an unrelated matter and had searched the premises.

Prosecuting barrister Caighli Taylor said: “A one kilogram block of cocaine was found in a carrier bag underneath a bed which my client insists he was looking after for somebody else and says it was not his.

“He does concede though that he has been selling Class A drugs and was engaged in street-dealing.”

The court heard that during the police search a taser, disguised as a torch, was found in a kitchen bin, several knives and a cosh were found in a bedroom and £575.96 cash was found on the defendant.

“Scales, mobile phones and clingfilm wraps were also found,” said Ms Taylor. “The scales had traces of cocaine on them and on the mobile phones drug-related messages were discovered.”

The prosecuting barrister said that “it couldn’t be clearer” that the defendant was involved in drug-dealing.

The court was told that the stun gun could have been of police issue and in the flat, videos of the weapon being fired at the address were discovered.

Defending lawyer sarah Jenkins said: “My client had no funds of his own and went down the slippery slope of drug-dealing.

“He was just 17 when he committed these offences and since then his partner has had the baby, now a 19-month-old son. He is no longer associated with the people involved in the drug world.”

Said His Honour Judge Ian Lawrie QC: “He played a significant role in the supply of Class A drugs and also had various weapons in his partner’s home – this is of concern..

“But he committed these offences when he was a youth and so I will sentence him accordingly, which will be half the period of imprisonment he would have received as an adult.”