A CRACK cocaine dealer who was caught with cash and phones by police in Ellesmere Port has been jailed.

Mark Davison, 26, of Acre Road, Great Sutton, was sentenced to three years and eight months at Chester Crown Court on Friday, August 18 after pleading guilty to the offences.

An investigation was launched by officers from the Ellesmere Port Proactive team in order to uncover the supply of crack cocaine into the town.

Enquiries led officers to identifying a mobile phone number which had been attributed to sending hundreds of daily ‘flare’ messages, advertising the sale of crack cocaine to users in Ellesmere Port.

CCTV footage recovered by officers evidenced Davison as the controller of the graft phone responsible for sending these bulk messages and on Thursday, July 20, he was spotted by officers travelling in a car along Sutton Way, heading towards Cheshire Oaks.

The car was stopped, and Davison was swiftly arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine.

Upon arrest, Davison was found in possession of a large quantity of cash and two mobile phones – one of which was the device previously identified by officers.

Officers then conducted a search at Davison’s home address where they seized a quantity of suspected class A drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Davison was subsequently charged with being concerned in the supply of a class A drugs (crack cocaine), possession of a class A drug (crack cocaine), and possession of criminal property.

Detective Constable Roy Wellings of Ellesmere Port Proactive Team said: "We have removed another drug dealer from our town and stopped a large quantity of drugs from finding their way onto the streets.

"Davison refused to offer any answers that officers put to him while in custody and provided no account of his actions.

"This sentence has once again shown that we will not stop in pursuing those who bring illegal drugs into Ellesmere Port.

"I’d like to thank officers from the impact team and also the proactive team at Ellesmere Port that helped bring this case together, a real team effort has helped make the area an even safer place to live and visit."