Wolverhampton drug dealer rumbled after being pulled over - for not wearing a seatbelt

David Joseph Thornton, aged 22, had 13 grams of the drug and almost £500 in cash when police stopped him in Whitmore Reans last September.

Thornton, of Glentworth Gardens, Dunstall, had only been targeted by the officers because he was not wearing his seatbelt, but they noticed a smell of cannabis.

He admitted possession of the drugs with intent to supply and was jailed for a year at the city's crown court in April.

But two top judges said that term was too tough and, although they refused to release him, slashed Thornton's sentence to eight months.

Judge Nicholas Cooke QC, sitting at the Court of Appeal in London with Mr Justice Spencer, said Thornton's original sentence was 'excessive'.

The court heard Thornton initially gave no comment when he was quizzed following his arrest.

But the inference that he had been 'street-dealing' in drugs was powerful, said Judge Cooke.

As well as the drugs, he had plastic bags of the type often used by criminals to package drugs for sale.

When officers pulled him over they could not find any trace of drugs in the car but were still suspicious and called in a specially-trained sniffer dog which discovered £150 worth of cannabis in a carrier bag under the vehicle, the court heard earlier this year.

The bag had the fingerprints of Thornton on it and had been placed there by him without anybody noticing when he got out of the car to speak to the police around 7pm on September 21. Officers also found £486 cash and a mobile phone with text messages indicative of drug dealing.

Mr Harbinder Lally, defending, said at the time: "He was very foolish. He is addicted to cannabis and thought he could make a bit of money out of it."

Recorder Nigel Baker QC told him when he was sentenced: "People who deal drugs go to prison. You had all the stock in trade of a relatively small time dealer. You are normally a trustworthy young man but you have let yourself and your family down."

He pleaded guilty at an early stage and so was entitled to the maximum reduction for his admission, the judge continued.

Thornton is likely to serve no more than half of his eight-month sentence in prison before being released on licence.