A MAN who was almost killed when he was stabbed on his doorstep on New Year’s Day was found to be dealing drugs from his home to raise a ransom held over his stolen dog.

Christopher Cox, pictured, had more than £12,000 worth of cocaine, cannabis and other drugs when police searched his home after he was assaulted by a love rival.

And when he was questioned the 44-year-old, who has two previous convictions for peddling drugs, said he only returned to dealing after his dog Ziggy was kidnapped.

Cox told officers he had received a phone call demanding £6,000 for the safe return of his Staffordshire bull terrier.

But a judge sitting at Swindon Crown Court said regardless of why he went back into business as a dealer it did nothing to lessen the harm caused by drugs.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, said police uncovered the cache of drugs after the stabbing.

They found cocaine with a street value of up to £5,000, cannabis resin worth about £1,400, skunk valued at £1,100 and £1,500 of amphetamines.

Hundreds of pills were also seized but were Benzyl-piperazine, a class C drug, rather than ecstasy.

Officers also found a set of electronic scales and a dish which both had traces of cocaine and a cutting agent on them as well as about £3,000 in cash.

When he was well enough to be questioned Cox admitted what he had done, telling the police the story about his dog being held to ransom.

Cox, of Beaulieu Close, Toothill, pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing drugs with intent to supply, five of supply and one of acquiring criminal property.

The court heard that he was jailed in 2002 for possessing cocaine with intent to supply and for 30 months in 2004 for dealing in ecstasy, cannabis and amphetamines, making him liable to receive a seven-year sentence for his third drugs conviction.

Eleanor Bruce, defending, said it would be unjust to impose the mandatory minimum term because of the way the offence was committed. She said her client had a poor upbringing and his relationship with his dog was the one constant in his life.

Shortly before Christmas last year she said he was in his local pub, the Boundary House, in Moredon, when his dog went missing. The following day he got a call demanding he find £6,000 to get the animal back so he got £12,000 worth of drugs on tick and went into dealing.

Jailing him for five years and 219 days Judge Euan Ambrose said “You decided to sell a wide range of drugs. Selling these to members of the public and the physical harm that comes from putting into circulation £12,000 of drugs is a very serious matter.”

Cox had been to a New Year’s Eve party when he ‘got fruity’ with the girlfriend of 39-year-old Michael Ashmore. She told her partner about what had happened and he confronted Cox.

Last month Ashmore, of Hatherop Road, Fairford, was jailed for life after he admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.