A judge has warned that the courts will deal sternly with young people who peddle ecstasy in the pubs and clubs of north Wales.

Judge Philip Hughes issued the warning as he sentenced teenage aircraft apprentice Robert Peter MacGregor to 18 months youth detention.

At Mold Crown Court, MacGregor admitted two charges of supplying the class A drug, one charge of possessing ecstasy with intent to supply, with two other charges of supply considered.

Judge Hughes told MacGregor that it must have been an ordeal for his father to give evidence in court.

'Stern warning'

"You must understand - and the message must go out to all young people who peddle ecstasy in the pubs and clubs of north Wales in particular - that the courts will deal sternly with them."

The court heard that 18-year-old MacGregor came from a responsible and respectable family and was described as a model son and pupil.

British Aerospace were keeping him on subject to drug testing and they had all proved negative.

But a prison sentence would mean the loss of his job and have devastating consequences, said Robert Altham, defending.

MacGregor of St Margaret's Way at Acton near Wrexham, was arrested after a club manager overheard him preparing to sell some ecstasy in the toilets.

A bag containing 10 ecstasy tablets was found on the ground near to where he had been standing and he admitted they were his and that he had sold the tablets, said Mark Roberts, prosecuting.

Foolish

A search of his home led to the discovery of a further 25 tablets and MacGregor told police that he had been foolish.

In interview he admitted that he had been supplying ecstasy.

The court heard he had started going to nightclubs, started taking ecstasy occasionally and his behaviour changed.

The defendant's father told how they had always tried to shelter him but for about a month before his arrest, his personality had changed.

But since his arrest he had been a fantastic lad again. "I feel as if we have had our son back," he said.