A DRUG dealer who spent his ill-gotten gains on designer gear has been caged for 21 months.

Laurence Gill, of Myles Court, Goffs Oak, sold cocaine to friends and acquaintances in the Cheshunt area between March and August last year.

When police raided his home they found seven wraps of the drug weighing 5.5 grams, told Andrea Scott-Lynch, prosecuting, at St Albans Crown Court.

Text messages relating to drug dealing were discovered on Gill’s mobile phone and receipts found by the officers showed he had been spending some of the proceeds on designer clothes and trainers.

Gill, 20, who was not in when officers searched his home, handed himself in a week later.

The drug dealer, now of Davison Drive, Cheshunt, pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply and making �3,892 between March 17 and August 8 last year.

Defence barrister James Stansfeld handed the judge “glowing” references for Gill. He said his client wanted to apologise for wasting the court’s time.

Sentencing him on Thursday, Judge Andrew Bright QC told Gill: “I have read outstandingly good references about you that show you are not just a drug dealer.

“But you had been dealing in drugs over a significant period – supplying to friends and acquaintances.

“It was not just a case of buying in bulk and supplying friends you were making money from it. The selling of Class A drugs was an easy way to make a fast buck.

“If you deal drugs you have to pay the price.”