A YOUNG dad who acted as a drug dealer's driver was today starting a jail term of three years and nine months.

Burnley Crown Court heard Irfan Matak, 25, told police he knew drugs were in the vehicle and believed another man in the car was going to sell them.

Officers found hard drugs stashed away in the vehicle when they stopped it in Blackburn.

Sentencing, Recorder David Hernandez told the defendant, who had claimed he was being bullied, that he might not have had a principal role in supplying, But he was a "cog in a much larger wheel" which led to the distribution of highly addictive drugs.

The judge added drugs not only caused misery but a great deal of crime, as users had to find considerable sums of money to pay for their habits. Only custody could be justified.

Matak, of no fixed address, but formerly of Notre Dame Gardens, Blackburn, admitted possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply and driving while disqualified.

He had six previous convictions for getting behind the wheel while banned.

Roger Green, prosecuting, said police saw the defendant driving in Blackburn last March and knew he was disqualified.

They stopped his car and an officer saw what he suspected was a stash of drugs between the front seats.

Eleven individual wraps of crack cocaine in clear plastic bags and nine wraps of heroin were discovered as well as other bags.

Matak was taken to Blackburn police station where he admitted he was a disqualified driver.

Tim Ashmole, defending, said Matak came across as quite a shy and timid person and claimed he was bullied into acting the way he did.

Matak, father of a two-year-old son, had had difficulties in the past with his marriage but had now been reconciled with his wife.

He had been in custody for four months and had managed to remain drug free.