A MAN who arrived in a smart black Mercedes to sell cannabis on the streets of Bradford has been locked up for eight months as a “shock to you and a message to others.”

Dominic Pemberton, 24, was arrested with an ounce of the Class B drug split into wraps after suspicious locals in Garibaldi Street, Thornbury, called the police.

He tried to grab a bag of wraps from the boot to hide it in his pocket when officers swooped on April 8, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Pemberton, of Sunset View, Meanwood, Leeds, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

He also admitted production of cannabis after the police raided his home and found a harvested crop in shoe boxes in his bedroom and cannabis growing equipment in the garage.

The court heard that Pemberton was spotted in Bradford removing small items from the boot of the Mercedes.

He told officers the vehicle belonged to his father and he was buying cannabis to feed his addiction, not selling it.

He had 23.97 grams of cannabis with him in wraps in the boot, equating to almost an ounce, the court was told.

When police searched his home, they discovered three large cannabis stalks hanging from a washing line in his bedroom and three shoe boxes containing harvested buds.

Pemberton had rigged up a mechanical drying device and there were dealer bags in a tin, along with digital scales.

In the garage were 11 plant pots containing root balls, along with a heater and other drugs paraphernalia.

In all, 1,072 grams of cannabis was seized by the police from the boot of the Mercedes and the house, with a total value of £6,672, the court was told.

Pemberton, who had a 2011 conviction for possession of cannabis with intent to supply, said he was sorting the dried drug for his own use.

His harvest was of very poor quality, he explained, and he was in Bradford to better some of better quality.

He had been addicted to cannabis since his early teens but had now given up the drug entirely because his girlfriend was expecting their child.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, said of the immediate prison sentence: “It is a shock to you and a message to others.”

Pemberton been caught drug dealing in Bradford as “a sole trader” from a nearly new Mercedes.

He had almost an ounce of cannabis with him and tried to hide the evidence from the police.