A would-be drug dealer has been jailed for a year for peddling a packet of brick dust and a pebble.

Bryan Rosewell, 37, of Marina, St Leonards, was caught selling the fake narcotics to two different undercover police officers in as many days.

He pretended they were wraps of heroin and cocaine.

Sentencing him at Lewes Crown Court, Recorder Anthony Abell said although he was not caught selling real drugs, he was preying on desperate addicts.

He was jailed for eight months for offering to supply heroin and four months for offering to supply cocaine. Forensic tests showed the substances were, in fact, two wraps of brick dust for the heroin and a pebble for the cocaine.

PC Duncan Cleverley said: “It’s important to stress that Rosewell was offering to sell class A drugs. He was also taking advantage of vulnerable people by selling them what turned out after tests to be brick dust.

“A custodial sentence was entirely appropriate in this case.”

Rosewell was arrested in December when Sussex Police raided dozens of addresses after a 12-month covert operation to target the main suppliers of class A drugs.

Sussex Police worked with British Transport Police after residents complained that dealing had become rife at railway stations and on trains.