A DEALER who stashed drug phones in his mattress must sell his designer trainers to pay a £500 police bill.

Finn Nicholson was spared jail last year despite clocking up a second conviction for drugs supply.

The 23-year-old’s Old Town flat was raided in May 2018. Police found almost £2,000 in cash, a pair of £500 trainers, 2.6g of cocaine with a street value of up to £350, a cutting agent used to dilute the cocaine and 22.7g of cannabis worth an estimated £170.

A year earlier detectives had twice searched his mum’s home on Dixon Street. They discovered almost 900g of skunk cannabis in his bedroom, £565 trainers and £300 bottles of champagne.

Nicholson, who has 11 previous convictions, answered no comment to questions in his police interview. He admitted possession with intent to supply and was sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for two years.

Now, the fresh-faced dealer has been ordered to pay back more than £2,500 in ill-gotten gains.

Prosecutor Rob Welling told Swindon Crown Court that Wiltshire Police financial investigators had calculated Nicholson made around £12,500 from his drug dealing.

He could pay back £2,575 under Proceeds of Crime Act rules.

The bulk of that sum - £2,000 – was the cash detectives found in the youngster’s flat. But Mr Welling said he would need to auction off some of his designer trainers to make up the shortfall.

Included among his trainer collection were top brands like Gucci, Nike and Prada.

Nicholson did not attend court for the hearing. Ani Yeghikian, defending, said her client’s solicitors had told him about the hearing but had not said he needed to be present. “I have personally tried on numerous occasions to contact Mr Nicholson.”

Judge Peter Crabtree said: “There’s no difficulty in proceeding with him in his absence.”

He ordered Nicholson pay back £2,575. He could be jailed for 14 days if he does not raise the £500.

Last year, the court heard Nicholson had turned a corner in his life. He was working as a scaffolder and complying with the terms of a suspended sentence order.

The year before, the youngster was given a stern warning by Judge Robert Pawson.

“Cannabis is not a harmless drug that many people appear to think it is because there is any number of people who smoke skunk, many teenagers, who develop psychosis which is a mental illness for life,” he said. “It is not glamorous, it is not Breaking Bad, it ruins people’s lives Mr Nicholson.”