A MAN who sold Ecstasy and cannabis said he was providing a kind of social service for those who took drugs.

A court heard how Keith Smith told a probation officer that selling Ecstasy and cannabis was a victimless crime and that, in his view, selling drugs caused no problems.

But as he was jailed for five years, Judge Gillian Ruaux said that Smith should talk with those parents who had lost a child through taking Ecstasy.

Smith admitted selling ecstasy tablets at £2 each as well as supplying cannabis bush and resin over a period of two to three months.

Smith, aged 32, of Heddles Court in Leigh, appeared at Bolton Crown Court for sentencing.

He admitted two counts of supplying Class A and Class B drugs to others and two counts of possessing Class A and Class B drugs with intent to supply.

The judge said she gave him credit for his frank admissions when arrested, but said that selling Class A drugs was a very serious offence.

"The country is in the grip of people who deal in drugs, causing people to become addicted," she told the court. Smith said he had bought 24 separate nine ounce bars of cannabis and used to buy Ecstasy tablets in batches of 30, and then later 100, which he sold for £2 each.

Police worked out that Smith had made a minimum of £9,000 over the period he was dealing. Police discovered in his house £2,128 worth of cannabis resin, £880 of cannabis bush and £435 worth of Ecstasy tablets.