A SCAFFOLDER has avoided going to jail for drug dealing after turning his life around.

Danny Neary, 33, from Daniel Court, Holme Wood, had turned to cocaine following a "turbulent period" in his life which saw him lose his father and suffer an injury.

Bradford Crown Court head the father-of-two was driving a Mercedes car on Cooper Lane, Buttershaw, on February 10 when police officers found his driving to be suspicious.

The police officers spoke to him after he came out of a house on the same street and Neary immediately admitted he was a disqualified driver.

He was allowed to walk home after being told he would be reported for driving while disqualified.

The court was told the officers were suspicious of Neary and they searched the immediate area.

They found the Mercedes car key tucked away in a hole in the wall and searched the car.

They discovered 23 packages of cocaine with a street value of £876.

A mobile phone was also recovered from the car complete with text messages about supplying drugs.

He was charged with possessing a Class A drug with intent to supply and pleaded guilty, but the court was told he was only supplying the people he knew or direct associates to feed his own drug habit.

In between being charged with this offence and it being brought before a judge, Neary had already spent 14 works in prison for breaching an order.

However, the court was told he had turned his life around while inside and he was now clean of drugs.

Stephen Wood, defending Neary, said he was now working as a scaffolder and employed a member of staff who drove him to jobs because he was disqualified.

He added: "He was hiding his problems in drugs.

"He was arrested for this offence in February and put before the magistrates court in March, and they sentenced him to prison for breaching a suspended sentence order.

"The defendant accepts being sent to prison was the best thing that could have happened to him because, quite frankly, it allowed him to sort out his drug addiction and put his life into some sort of context and put it back on the straight and narrow, and once more live as a law abiding citizen.

"Prison made him realise what his life had become and was a shock to the system.

"The position now is that your Honour is sentencing a very different defendant to the man that existed in February of 2018."

Judge David Hatton QC, sentenced Neary to a two year jail sentence, suspended for two years and 180 hours of unpaid work.

He told him: "I accept from what I have seen and heard that temporary phase in your life has come to an end and you are a different person.

"You have put drugs behind you.

"There is force in the suggestion that you have turned your life around considerably."