A drug dealer who was caught three times with drugs hidden in plastic Kinder eggs has been jailed for five and a half years.

Former plasterer Gary Byrne, 30, of Brighton Street, Chorley, was spotted taking an item from his pocket when suspicious officers stopped him in a car on Hough Lane, Leyland in December 2020.

A knuckle duster and Kinder egg containing heroin was found in the car, with £498 and a mobile phone.

Prosecuting, Neil Ronan said he was bailed, but two days later the vehicle was stopped on Eaves Lane, Chorley.

Police found cocaine in a Kinder egg and a knife in the glove box.

On a third occasion - hours after he had appeared before magistrates for driving matters - Byrne was found with drugs in another Kinder egg.

Judge Graham Knowles QC voiced his frustration that Byrne had been bailed twice, only to offend a third time.

He said he had a “wretched personal history” and added: “ You took the catastrophic route of drugs and starting as an abuser of them, you become a dealer of them.

“Described by your counsel as a one man band, you were in it to afford your abuse of those drugs.”

Byrne admitted a string of drug and driving charges, and two counts of possessing a bladed article.

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