A PRISONER went on the run from prison after his cell was searched and drugs found while he was gardening.

Jonathan Reeve was at HM Ford, and was weeks from being released after serving half of his 21-year sentence for conspiracy to supply drugs and grievous bodily harm.

He had stashed 13g of cocaine and 300g of cannabis, worth £8,000, in his cell.

The 38-year-old had been on gardening duties at the open prison when he was told prison officers were doing the search.

Reeve went on the run to Brighton, but handed himself in to police days later.

At Lewes Crown Court he admitted possessing cocaine and cannabis with the intent to supply.

He claimed that he relapsed on his old drug taking habits, and had been pressured into storing the drugs for other dealers.

Reeve’s defence team said he has turned his life around since his release on licence from prison, and argued that the new drugs offences were minor enough for a suspended prison term.

But Judge Janet Waddicor disagreed, and told Reeve he knew what he was getting himself into. She jailed him.

Previously, he was jailed for his part in a drugs gang based in Worthing, including a knife attack for his drugs boss that nearly left a man dead.

The judge sentenced Reeve, of Norfolk Road, Littlehampton, to two and a half years.