A DRUG dealer who was caught selling heroin on the streets claimed he could not read or write.

Nathan Knox, 24, was stopped by police officers on patrol in Warrington on July 16 this year after they were alerted to dealing going on in the area.

Shannon Stewart, prosecuting, described to Liverpool Crown Court how Knox was stopped on Statham Avenue in Orford.

He was found to be carrying two Kinder eggs full of crack cocaine and heroin along with another bag and £360 in cash.

The Kinder eggs were found to contain five plastic wraps of cocaine worth up to £100 and four wraps of heroin worth £40, while the large bag was found to contain a further 84 wraps of heroin worth £840.

A mobile phone was also seized, and although offices were unable to access the data on it, the device received around 50 incoming calls while Knox was being held in custody.

Ms Stewart said Knox has five previous convictions, including one for burglary.

Paul Wood, defending, asked for the hearing to be adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

However, judge Simon Medland rejected this, saying Knox had chances to work with the probation services and ignored them.

He asked Mr Wood: "Does it need to be scrolled on parchment and delivered on horseback to be acknowledged by him?"

Mr Wood said Knox, of Chesterfield Drive, Kirkby, has ‘long-standing issues of cannabis and cocaine addiction, a history of mental health issues and cannot read or write’.

He added: "Educationally, he is at the bottom of the spectrum."

Sentencing Knox to 32 months in prison, Judge Medland, said: "You know as well as I do class A drugs destroy people's lives.

“They break up families and cause people like you to end up in the dock at crown court."