A FORMER Colne publican who turned into a cocaine dealer with a ‘£200 a week’ addiction, has started a three year, four month jail term.

Geoffrey Stubbs, 43, had a bag of the drug at his home when police raided last January.

He also had texts related to supply on his mobile phone, cash to the tune of £1,200 in a safe, and a ‘grey metal gun’.

He was arrested, claimed any drugs he had were for his own use, told police he was not involved in selling and blamed his lodger, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Stubbs, who recently wor-ked at Silentnight, in Barnoldswick, had made a ‘real attempt’ to kill himself as he was awaiting sentence and had been remanded in custody for his own protection, the hearing was told.

He admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and 10 counts of offering to supply the drug.

The defendant, of Tennyson Road, Colne, will face a proceeds of crime hearing at a later date.

Recorder Richard Pearce told him: “Class A drugs like cocaine cause utter misery to people.

"They destroy lives and it’s for that reason the courts will not tolerate dealing in such drugs.

“This was an operation of some sophistication, even if you were led into it by other people, or another person."

Simeon Evans, prosecuting, said police found just under half a gram of cocaine at the defendant's home.

The messages on his mobile phone related to a period between December 2009 and January last year.

The phone was examined and found to contain texts asking for drugs, in some cases to be ‘laid on’.

Martin Hackett, defending, said he persisted in the assertion there was a lodger involved but he did accept he was involved in offering to supply drugs.

He accepted the telephone was his and that he was passing messages on to someone who lived in the house at the time.

The barrister added: “In many ways, these actions are out of character for him. This case has had a profound effect upon him."

Speaking after sentencing PC David Cottam said: “Stubbs is a prolific drug dealer who brought cocaine on to the streets of East Lancashire and I am pleased with the sentence.

“His drug-dealing activities had a considerably negative impact within the local community.”