A CARLISLE man who involved his mother in his drug dealing activities was spending up to £400 a day on his cocaine habit.

The city's crown court heard how Dwaine Ferriday, 28, who is now battling to overcome his addiction, got his mum to store thousands of pounds he earned from dealing. The defendant, of Borland Avenue, Botcherby, Carlisle, admitted possessing the class A drug with intent to supply it.

He was jailed for 31 months.

Prosecutor Charles Brown revealed how during a police search of the defendant's home officers found more than £1,000 in cash and drug paraphernalia, including digital scales, a cocaine bulking agent and mobile phones with incriminating messages on them.

The defendant's mother earlier admitted a drugs offence on the basis that she was acting under the control of her son. In total, the searches of her and her son's homes recovered 44.6 grams of cocaine, with a 75 per cent purity.

Paul Tweddle, for Ferriday, said: "He's someone who has had and does have a severe drug habit. He was using between £200 and £400 worth of cocaine daily."

Ferriday had always worked, including as a delivery driver whose duties involved making deliveries to Carlisle Crown Court. But his drug addiction escalated out of control, and that was the underlying reason for his offending, added Mr Tweddle.

Judge Nicholas Barker told the defendant: "Your life hit bumps in the road in 2018 and you turned to using cocaine." The judge said that choice said there are other ways to deal with problems but using cocaine was never going to lead to anything other than trouble.

The judge added:"To make matters worse, you involved your mother, using her home address as a depository for cocaine money - £3,000 of your cash from drug dealing at her home; and there was 40g of cocaine at her home."

His mother was vulnerable because she would not turn him away. She went along with what you wanted. You took advantage of that." At an earlier hearing, Melanie Ferriday, 48, of Marks Avenue, Raffles, also admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply.