A NEW dad caught with chemicals to "cut" nearly £25,000 worth of cocaine, has been jailed.

Thomas Strachan, 27, was arrested after police raided his two-bedroomed mid-terraced house in Alloa, Clackmannanshire.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that he possessed more than £5500 worth of ecstasy and high-purity cocaine, along with almost 3kgs of powdered benzocaine – a local anaesthetic commonly used as an agent to adulterate or "cut" high-purity cocaine for street deals.

There was enough benzocaine in the house to "cut" hundreds of street deals, netting thousands of pounds.

Prosecutor Cheryl Clark said: "If these cocaine deals were priced between £50 and £80 this could total between £14,850 and £23,760 depending on how it was sold."

Strachan, from Scott Crescent, Alloa, a new father of a three-week-old-baby, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of ecstasy and cocaine at his home on September 9, last year.

Sheriff Simon Collins QC deferred sentence until December 8 for a criminal justice social work report but added: "A custodial sentence is inevitable. He might as well start it now."