A student hooked on ketamine, Xanax and Valium who flogged drugs from his rented house was caught after mistakenly sending texts offering his services to a phone used by staff at his university.
Philosophy and politics undergraduate Max Chambers, then 19, sold to fellow students after running up £1,500 debts due to his addiction.
The second-year student, who had been smoking cannabis since he was 13, was caught after he accidentally sent texts to his welfare officer at the University of Manchester, offering substances for sale from his student digs.
When police raided his rented house in Fallowfield, they found 'a cocktail' of drugs, including ketamine, alprazolam and 'Viagra-type' tablets under his desk.
Cannabis and cocaine for 'personal use' was also discovered.
Some of the substances were discovered inside an Apple MacBook box in his bedroom.
Officers also found scales and an iPhone. Chambers refused to divulge the PIN for the device.
Two other students were arrested.
A judge said Chambers was 'not a very sophisticated or intelligent drug dealer'.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Chambers, now 21, currently of St James Road, Harpenden, admitted offering to supply drugs; and possession with intent to supply.
He was handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for 18 months.
The court earlier heard the investigation began in October 2018 after a 'residential life co-ordinator' at the university began receiving texts on a phone dedicated to fielding calls 24/7 from students.
Prosecutor Neil Ronan said: "Initially, [the staff member] thought it was spam.
"However, he became far more concerned when the same number sent similar texts over the ensuing weeks saying that drugs were for sale.
"[The staff member] contacted the police, who undertook research and found a call was made from that number to police by the defendant in 2017.
"The phone was then linked to his Instagram account, which enabled police to find his address.
"In March 2019, a search warrant was executed and Mr Chambers was seen to throw a small, black pot containing ketamine out of the ground floor front bedroom window.
"He was then spoken to by the officers and asked whether there were any drugs in the bedroom. Consequently, the defendant pointed out the drugs in that property.
"A cocktail of drugs was found in an Apple MacBook box in the bedroom, which was seized. There was a clear plastic bag containing white pills, which were found to be xanax, there were also four other tablets, another bag of tablets.
"By the bedside table, there was a white tub containing cannabis.
"Under the desk, there was a set of electronic scales for the provision of metering out defined volumes of drugs.
"There was also a brown coloured box on the table containing white powder, which was cocaine. It was accepted that this was for personal use.
"Two other people were arrested, but his father who was also in the property, was not.
"An Apple iPhone was also seized, but the defendant wouldn’t give his pin number and it was deemed to be too expensive and time consuming to crack the phone.
"A detailed examination was carried out of all the drugs and there was a cocktail of various Class B and Class C drugs, namely 0.47 grams of ketamine, which was thrown out of the window; 11.9 grams of ketamine under the desk; 146 alprazolam tablets in a bag in the MacBook Air box; and 3.99 grams of cannabis for personal use.
"There was a tub of white powder which contained 510 grams of a non-controlled substance, which seemed to be a cutting agent.
"There [were] mobile scales found under the desk, which [were] found to have traces of ketamine in and there was 180 tablets of Viagra-type tablets."
The court heard Chambers has since left the university had since got himself clean. He's now running a successful fruit and vegetable business.
Defence counsel Max Saffman said: "There has been a significant change in Mr Chambers life.
"He is expected to graduate this year, but he needs to submit his dissertation in April first.
"He says he has remained drug-free and offence-free since the date the matter was investigated and when he looks back on this period of time, he looks back on it with regret and shame."
Judge Michael Leeming told Chambers to complete 200 hours of unpaid work, adding: "On any view, you’re not a very sophisticated or intelligent drug dealer and you are assessed as presenting a low risk of both re-conviction and harm.
"You have been a cannabis user since the age of 13 and your drug use escalated in 2017 when you attended [The University of Manchester] as a philosophy student.
"You became addicted to ketamine, Xanax and Valium by the end of your second year and so you were dealing in 2018 into 2019 to finance your own drug dependence.
"But, since March 2019, you have changed your outlook, you have spent time away from the pressures of university life.
"But the nature of supply in a university seems to be an aggravating factor.
"Students want to get on with their lives without having to live with drug dealers and without having to live with people who use drugs. It makes non-drug users' life a misery and drug dealers like you tend to overlook this."
