DRUG dealer Perry Kirby sold ecstasy tablets in a nightclub to help him pay off fines for other offences, a court heard.

The 23-year-old, of Ogilvy Street, Calne, bought hundreds of the pills for £1 each and started selling them to clubbers in the Brunel Rooms in Swindon town centre at £5 a time.

Kate Brown, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court on Friday nightclub stewards saw him acting suspiciously with two other men last May and moved in when they saw money changing hands.

"Initially he struck out and tried to run off but he was caught," she said. "He was taken and searched and found to have 34 white tablets. He also had cash totalling £575.

"When he was interviewed he admitted taking 50 tablets into the club with the intention of selling them. "He said he had sold 16 before he was caught, mostly to people he knew."

Ms Brown said Kirby claimed to have bought 250 for £1 each and was motivated to do it because he was in debt, mostly to the courts for fines."

Kirby attended a magistrates court last August but failed to return the following month and was arrested.

At a previous hearing Kirby pleaded guilty to possessing ecstasy with intent to supply, supplying the drug and failing to surrender to custody.

Rob Ross, defending, said: "Here is a situation where a young man had debts. He was 22 at the time and someone who was a regular club-goer though not really a drinker and not a drug user. He realised an easy way to clear his debts was to supply what most people in the club appeared to want.

"One of the unfortunate aspects of cases like this is young people again and again supplying class A drugs in situations where it is vastly clear that there are people who want this drug.

"I increasingly come across the view that there is nothing wrong with it unless you end up dead or in court. It is class A and without doubt a drug that can be dangerous."

Mr Ross sad since the offence Kirby has settled down with a new partner and her children and has a job to go to when he comes out of prison.

He said Kirby has also paid off his debts, including the fines, by working to earn the money legitimately.

Judge Peter Thomas jailed Kirby for 18 months for the drugs offences with two weeks consecutive for failing to surrender.

He said: "It always seems a bit of a lark to supply these drugs to anyone in a club but from time to time people die.

"In order to die they have got to take one if these tablets, and in order to take one someone's got to supply them."

He also ordered that Kirby forfeit the drugs and more that £800 he had made from selling them.