A DRUG dealer has been jailed after threatening a neighbour who found his stash in his bin store and handed it over to the police.

Ronald Bussey was so angry when he found his supply of cannabis and the dance drug NRG2 were missing that he went to the neighbour's door to accuse him of stealing it. He was flanked by a henchman who was wielding a baseball bat.

The neighbour and his partner were terrified because their three young children were asleep upstairs at their home in Okehampton.

They called the police who arrested Bussey. He was later caught red handed as he bagged up packets of cannabis ready for sale.

Bussey, formerly of Okehampton, but now living in Exeter, admitted affray, supplying cannabis and possessing the drug with intent to supply, and the possession of cocaine, NRG2, and amphetamines for his own use.

He was jailed for 13 months by Judge Barry Cotter, QC, at Exeter Crown Court last week. The judge warned that anyone, including children, could have found the cache of drugs.

The judge told him: 'You visited your neighbour and made pre-meditated threats of violence in connection with drug-related activity and with a weapon which I am satisfied was a half-length baseball bat carried by the other man.

'The whole intention was to frighten the occupants so they would give back the drugs or exert pressure or retribution. It is not clear if your plan was properly thought out.

'The threats frightened two people with young children in their own home and this can only be dealt with by immediate custody.

'The drugs were left in a bin store where they were accessible to anyone, including any young person or child who may have been interested.

'You were caught in the process of setting up your little shop to supply drugs. You had a large bag of cannabis and the usual paraphernalia of scales and so on. This was a large amount of cannabis of significant value.

'Society needs to be protected from people who deal in drugs and threaten their neighbours in these circumstances.'

Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said the neighbour was throwing away rubbish in a bin store in his garden when he noticed two glass jars hidden in a roll of discarded carpet. He realised they were drugs and called the police, who later found them to contain NRG2 worth up to £800 and cannabis worth up to £945.

Nine months later police arrested a drug user in Okehampton with £80 worth of cannabis he had just bought off Bussey and raided his home where they caught him as he divided 265 grams of herbal cannabis into street deals which would have made him more than £1,600.

They also found £1,500 cash and small amounts of other drugs. Bussey told them he bought half a kilogram of cannabis for £2,000 and was selling it to friends and known users.

Mr Rupert Taylor, defending, said Bussey was in the grip of his own drug addiction which was the result of a series of tragedies and setbacks in his life.

He said he was a low level dealer who used all the money he made to buy his own supplies of cocaine and amphetamine.

He said: 'He does not have any of the trappings of wealth. He is not a significant dealer and his life has been blighted by drugs.'