Drug dealer Nicholas Dean who was caught with live ammunition hidden under his bed was jailed for 18 months, writes Rebecca Smith.

Dean, 35, of Horspath Road, Oxford, had been banned from keeping firearms, but he thought the ammunition did not matter as it was .22 calibre, which he regarded as 'like a cap gun'.

Police searched Dean's home in connection with a drug inquiry in September 1997.

They found 15 rounds of ammunition, and yesterday, at Northampton Crown Court, Dean pleaded guilty to possession of firearms while banned.

James Lachkovic, prosecuting, said: "The police found the ammunition was live when three cartridges were test fired. The defendant said the ammunition was his.

"It had come into his possession about four years before when he was working at a nightclub.

"He had confiscated the ammunition from a customer.

"He knew it was against the law to have the ammunition but did not consider it a serious offence because, as he said, 'a .22 is like a cap gun'."

Mr Lachkovic told the court that Dean's failure to attend a hearing in 1998 had delayed the matter being dealt with.

Dean's criminal record included offences of burglary, criminal damage and wounding with intent during the 1980s.

Earlier this year, he was among a gang convicted at Oxford Crown Court of conspiracy to supply cannabis and amphetamine sulphate and was jailed for eight years.

Sentencing Dean to 18 months in prison, to run concurrently with his existing jail term for the drugs offence, Judge Patrick Eccles said: "You kept ammunition despite knowing it was against the law.

"There is no evidence you had a firearm yourself. I have balanced these considerations."