A COCAINE dealer hadn’t slept for seven days because he was so high on his own supply, a court heard.

Former doorman Josef Gordon, 29, had turned to selling the class A drug after amassing huge debts to his dealers.

Swindon Crown Court heard that as his own use of the drug spiralled out of control in the early part of 2019, he upped the amount of cocaine he sold.

Prosecutor Unyime Davies said police pulled over Gordon’s Vauxhall Astra in Cricklade Road on August 6 last year after a tip off.

When he tested positive for cocaine at the roadside the officers searched the car. Discovered underneath the driver’s seat was a grey gym bag containing roughly 1.5g of cocaine, a number of empty drug wrappers, a mask, Stanley knife and small book listing debts owed to Gordon. There was a knife with a three-and-a-half inch blade in the pocket of the driver’s door.

A drugs expert valued the cocaine found in the car at between £200 and £300. Messages on his phone pointed to him dealing to friends and associates for around six months. He mostly dealt small amounts – half gramme or 1g deals – although on one occasion he had supplied 4g of cocaine for £320.

Taken to Gablecross police station, he candidly admitted his dealing when he was interviewed by police. Tests showed he had the equivalent of 136mcgs of cocaine in a litre of blood, 13 times the legal limit of 10mcgs.

Gordon, of Bloomsbury Street, Cheltenham, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possession with intent to supply class A drugs, possession of a bladed article and driving while over the drug limit.

Emma Handslip, mitigating, said her client was of previous good character. His life had spiralled out of control after the breakdown of a relationship.

The former bouncer had been offered cocaine by a friend and his use of the drug increased. He was taking so much of the class A drug that when he was stopped by police last August he had not slept for seven days.

Ms Handslip said: “It was hugely, hugely out of control, the amounts he was taking a day. Absolutely catastrophic. It was the only way he could actually function. He said: ‘The day I got arrested could have been the worst day of my life, but it was the wake up call I needed.’”

He was now clean and working with his father. The job – doing handyman work - would be available to him upon his release from prison. He was remorseful and the probation service deemed him to be a low risk of reconviction.

Jailing him for three years and seven months, Judge Jason Taylor QC recognised Gordon’s remorse. “It is sad to see someone in your position in the dock. You are 29 and of previous good character. You don’t have the bearing of a drug dealer. You have the bearing of a person who’s turned their life around.”

He added: “I hope this very serious mistaken error of judgement will not define you.”

Gordon was banned from driving for a year with an extension period of 20 months, meaning the roads ban will begin when he is released from prison on licence.