A CARLISLE teen was caught on camera dealing cannabis - and had a knife in the street when police caught up with him.

Joshua Jake Richard Young, 19, was brought to justice after CCTV stills surfaced of him sitting on steps at Upperby Road on the evening of June 25.

Prosecutor Peter Barr told Carlisle Crown Court: “Certainly what is captured is this defendant supplying cannabis to another. He produced cannabis from a rucksack or holdall, producing some scales and he weighs it out.”

After the stills were passed to police, an officer saw the dealer carrying the same distinctive bag on London Road on June 29.

“He decided to stop Mr Young and searched him. He says he found the knife Mr Young was carrying. He describes it as a locking blade knife.”

Snap-bags and two mobile phones were also recovered, one bearing an incoming message which read: “Giz us a message if you’re free and got weed lad.”

Young, of Currock Street, Carlisle, admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis, possessing the class B drug with intent to supply and illegal knife possession.

A probation officer who interviewed the teen said: “He is very remorseful for this

incident, he says, for his dealing. He says he hasn’t done it since.

“He does not normally carry a knife around with him. He said because of what he was doing he was scared, so he carried it for self-defence.

“He says he doesn’t think he would ever have the courage to use it.”

Mark Shepherd, defending, gave moving details of the teen’s difficult upbringing, telling how he’d found secured work as a bricklayer’s labourer, and adding: “He is someone who could, with the right support, be somebody who is a rough diamond.”

Judge Peter Davies acknowledged Young’s past troubles but said the nine-month jail term he was imposing had to be immediate.

“There’s a zero tolerance policy about knives,” he said. “It’s zero tolerance as far as I’m concerned. I won’t have knives in this county and, as far as I can do, I will stop it.”