A teenager who claimed he would be beaten up if he did not start selling drugs has been spared jail by a judge.

Joseph Devanney owed £200 because he had stolen somebody's bike, Bradford Crown Court was told.

When he was interviewed by police he said men had forced him into dealing and added he would "get battered" if he did not do as he was told.

Devanney, 18, was caught when officers stopped a car in Church Street, Shipley, last August. The defendant tried to run away and dropped a number of wraps of heroin and crack cocaine before being caught. The drugs had a street value of £300.

At an earlier hearing Devanney, of Dalby Avenue, Bradford, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply.

Judge Peter Benson sentenced Devanney to 51 weeks in a young offender institution, suspended for two years, and made him the subject of a two year supervision order.

Passing sentence Judge Benson said: "If you commit a criminal offence during that period... you will be brought back before the court and you will go straight off to custody because you're lucky not to be going down the steps today."