A homeless man who started dealing drugs to pay off a debt has been jailed for three years.

Officers from Suffolk Police searched a car in Lowestoft on December 13 after seeing a drug deal taking place in it on CCTV.

They found Nicky Bates in a passenger seat with items including scales, a phone, a crack pipe and a white substance, Ipswich Crown Court heard on Friday, November 5.

When he was searched at a police station, three wraps of cocaine were found in his mouth, while two more were found between his buttocks, said prosecutor Benedict Peers.

Two weeks later, on December 28, Bates was stopped by police as he was cycling in the town and a bag containing white powder and a tin containing heroin were found on him, as well as a phone containing bulk text messages advertising the sale of drugs and requests for drugs from customers.

Bates, 32, of no fixed address, but from the Lowestoft area, admitted possessing cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, supplying cocaine and possessing heroin, pregabalin and lorazepam.

Marc Brown, mitigating, said Bates had been in custody for ten months and was now drug free.

He said Bates, who has previous convictions for drug offences, had fallen back into the use of Class A drugs while he was homeless and became involved in supply drugs to pay off a drug debt.