A MAN whose drug dealing was uncovered by police following a car crash was spared jail.

Edward Smith appeared at Oxford Crown Court last Thursday after pleading guilty to charges of supplying cannabis and MDMA.

The 20-year-old, whose family looked on from the public gallery during the sentencing, was given a two year prison sentence suspended for two years.

Smith, of Wroslyn Road, Freeland, was driving on the A4095 on April 30 last year when he was involved in a crash.

He was taken to hospital where MDMA, a controlled class A drug, was found in his system.

Meanwhile, Smith's father asked police to collect his son's possessions from the crashed Corsa.

Upon searching the car, they found cannabis (valued at about £75) and MDMA (valued at about £30), as well as a set of scales and deal bags.

Police also recovered a phone, on which they found 50,000 messages, which revealed Smith was involved in the supply of cannabis and, later, MDMA.

An expert concluded that Smith started out as a 'user dealer' before moving into more commercial supply.

Peter Dufeu, defending, explained that since last year's incident Smith has turned his life around and steered clear of drugs.

He said Smith has started an apprenticeship, which would likely end if given a custodial sentence.

The defence also raised the matter of Smith's Crohn's disease, an illness affecting the immune system that he was diagnosed with recently.

Smith, the court heard, is participating in a medication trial via a professor at the John Radcliffe Hospital that would likely cease with a custodial sentence.

He was sentenced to two years in jail for supplying class A drugs and a six-month concurrent sentence for the class B drugs - both suspended for two years. He was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £535 costs.