A FORMER soldier has been jailed for 40 months after the police seized a cache of drugs, a stun gun and £1,000 in banknotes from his home.

Sean Holt was in the grip of a cocaine addiction costing him hundreds of pounds a week when he set up his commercial operation selling the Class A drug, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

When police searched his home in Bull Royd Lane, Bullroyd, Bradford, on September 7 last year they found 28 grams of cocaine with a street value of £1,189, £25 of cannabis, the stash of cash and a disguised firearm in the form of a stun gun that looked like a torch.

Prosecutor Andrew Horton said Holt, 28, had a bag of cocaine of 95 per cent purity in his bedroom, along with dealer bags, a package of low purity cut cocaine, scales and a phone containing incriminating information.

He told the police he had bought the drugs in bulk for his own use and was given the stun gun by a former comrade in the Army. The money was from a loan company.

Holt pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply, possession of cannabis and possession of a disguised firearm.

He had a conviction at Leeds Crown Court, dating from 2009, for possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply. The court heard he received a suspended custodial sentence for being caught with wraps of drugs in a car.

Holt's solicitor advocate, Ashok Khullar, said: "The root of his recent difficulties was his addiction to cocaine."

He took out payday loans at exorbitant rates of interest to pay for drugs and began selling them to people he knew.

Mr Khullar said Holt bitterly regretted leaving the Army, saying it taught him respect and to take responsibility for his actions.

He had since worked hard in a number of jobs, and provided the court with good references.

Holt had obtained professional help for his cocaine misuse and was now drug free.

"He recognises that his drug addiction was destroying him and sought help for himself," Mr Khullar said.

Judge Colin Burn made a confiscation order in the sum of £1,000. The money was already in the hands of the police, Mr Horton said.

Judge Burn said Holt played a significant role in what was low level commercial drug dealing.

The stun gun was not capable of discharging a lethal projectile and was not what most people would think of as a firearm.

Holt was jailed for 40 months for the drugs offences with 30 months to run concurrently for possession of the stun gun.