A FATHER who struggled to provide for his two children turned to drug dealing to make money, a judge heard.

Alan Knight, 34, had been living with his two children, both under the age of 11, in Three Crosses Road, Ross-on-Wye, in November 2016, when police acting on intelligence searched his house for drugs.

They found the property smelling of urine with dog faeces on the floor.

They also found almost £1,000 worth of cocaine and a samurai sword – which was within reach of children.

Knight, now of Hendre Close, Monmouth, pleaded guilty to two offences of child neglect, possession with the intent to supply Class A and Class B drugs and the possession of MDMA.

Judge Nicholas Cole jailed him for four years and labelled the conditions in the house “truly appalling.”

Knight showed police a unit in the house where they found cocaine, cannabis resin valued at £40, 15.6 grammes of cannabis leaf and between £50 and £100 worth of amphetamine. Also 2.89 grammes of MDMA valued at £90 was found.

Various items were found which suggested the supply of drugs including two mobile phones which were also seized and had messages on them with references to him dealing drugs.

Inside the property were two puppies and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier who had urinated on pads and faeces were left on the floor.

Giles Nelson, mitigating, said that Knight’s lifestyle had been out of control for some time and he ended up dealing drugs.

“It is a sad situation that he had been left in sole charge of the children since 2014 and struggled greatly with the situation and doesn’t excuse how ultimately he was earning money to get himself financially up and running,” said Mr Nelson.

“Admitting that you have neglected your own children is a difficult thing to do. He hasn’t taken cocaine since November 2016 or cannabis since March this year.”

Mr Nelson added that Knight was currently working in Monmouth.

For the two offences of child neglect he was handed a 16-month prison sentence for each to be served concurrently.

For supplying cocaine he was handed a 32-month prison sentence to be served consecutively to the 16-month sentence.

For the two other drug dealing charges Knight was handed eight months in custody to run concurrently.