A drug dealer said texts telling addicts he was "about all day and night" were only offering cannabis and ketamine for sale.
Convicted cocaine and heroin dealer Alex Nicholson was stopped by police in a Renault Megane, in Everite Road in Widnes, on January 16 this year. Officers searched the car and didn't find any drugs, but in the 29-year-old's jacket pocket discovered a Nokia described as a "burner type mobile phone".
Liverpool Crown Court heard the device was found to contain outgoing "flare" messages, offering drugs for sale, to known addicts in Northwich, Cheshire. One message sent out on New Year's Eve read: "About all day and night, 40s, two for 70, three for 100." Another, sent on January 6, read: "New work, on now."