Drug dealer who played a "significant role" was caught in a hotel room with hundreds of pound in cash, cocaine and heroin

Police officers swooped after staff at the Lord Hill Hotel became suspicious of Daniel Thompson's activities at the premises, in Abbey Foregate.

Mr Nigel Stelling, prosecuting, told Shrewsbury Crown Court that a total of £830 cash and hard drugs with an estimated street value of £640 was confiscated from the 29-year-old during the incident on October 13. He said that the officers were contacted by the management team.

The defendant was then remanded in custody after it emerged that he was in breach of a suspended jail term given in May this year for possession of an offensive weapon.

In relation to the latest case Thompson pleaded guilty admitted two offences of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and one offence of possession of criminal property which related to the money.

He was jailed for a total of three years and eight weeks at a hearing yesterday.

Miss Katy Appleton, mitigating, told the court that the defendant had a difficult childhood followed by a long standing addiction to cannabis which escalated to hard drugs including crack cocaine and his previous relationship had broken down. She said he moved from Liverpool to Shrewsbury in a bid to make a fresh start and to find building work, but had been unsuccessful.

"He is remorseful and I would add very foolish. He thought he could buy drugs in large quantities, break it down into smaller wraps and sell it on, Miss Appleton added.

But Judge Peter Barrie told Thompson: "You had in your possession around £800 in cash and it is clear from the items found and from your mobile phone that you were dealing in Class A drugs partly for profit and partly to sustain your own use of Class A drugs. You were supplying to users and you clearly had a role which was being treated as a significant role."

"You have a significant record of offences which includes possession of cannabis and supply of cannabis. These are aggravating features. I recognise that this is your first conviction for Class A and I recognise the difficult upbringing that you had. None the less people, however difficult their background have choices that they make. I am told that you are making better choices during your time in custody."

For possession of drugs he sentenced Thompson, of Dingle, Liverpool, to three years in jail and possession of criminal property two months to run concurrently. He was re-sentenced to eight weeks jails for the previous weapons' offence also to run concurrently. He must serve half before being released on licence.