A DRUG dealer’s driver, who tried to escape from police and flush heroin down the toilet when officers turned up at his home, was spared jail.

Burnley Crown Court heard how heroin-using graduate Shabaz Khan was said to have got involved in the drugs trade over two weeks, driving his supplier around because he had fallen into debt.

Khan, who also fought with police and had to be Pava-sprayed, was found to have drugs worth £200 at his home in Brierfield.

The hearing was told police had found what they thought was 8.84 grams of heroin in a bag in the lounge, but it turned out not to be drugs, and the defendant claimed it was mud from Mecca.

Khan, 27, of Halifax Road, who is due to start a new job as an assistant accountant, had admitted possessing heroin with intent to supply on March 23. He was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work.

David Macro, prosecuting, said police went to Khan’s home and were told he was not there.

Some officers went round the back and saw him trying to climb out of the bathroom window.

Police at the front went upstairs, forced their way into the bathroom and found him stooped over the toilet, trying to flush away two bags of drugs.

It took four officers to subdue him, but eventually they managed to handcuff him.

The two wraps weighed 1.87 grams and 1.46 grams.

Mobile phones and two sets of scales were seized, and police found drugs-related messages.

The defendant was questioned, denied trying to climb out of the window, and denied being a dealer. He said he took heroin weekly and claimed the phone was his dealer’s and the messages were nothing to do with him. Khan had £480 on him.

The court was told the defendant had owned up on the basis he was indebted to his supplier, and had been driving him round. Some of the drugs at his home were his, and he kept some for the dealer.

Khan now faces a Proceeds of Crime hearing.

Mark Stuart, for Khan, said he should have been bright enough not to have any involvement in drugs whatsoever. He came from a decent family and had been to university, but committed the offence when he was made redundant.

Recorder Stephen Bedford said: “I accept that drug dealers prey upon those who are regarded as clean, so far as their record is concerned, and less likely to attract suspicion, and that they prey upon people who have debts, and pressure is put upon them. You have acted extremely foolishly in allowing yourself to become involved in an operation of this sort.”