A ONCE aspiring footballer has narrowly avoided imprisonment for possessing cannabis and intending to sell it.

Benjamin Tiller, now 20, was found with between £4,000-£7,000 of the class B drug in his possession - around 640g worth - on January 25 at Central Avenue in Corfe Mullen.

He was sentenced to 12 months in a young offender institution, suspended for 18 months, for intending to supply the drugs to an associate Owen Way.

He was also put under curfew with electronic tagging for four months, between 8pm-6am except Monday evenings, ordered to undertake 250 hours of unpaid work and pay a victim surcharge of £100.

Prosecutor Stuart Ellacott told Bournemouth Crown Court that Tiller, of Kitchener Crescent in Poole, had once aspired to be a professional footballer having played for AFC Bournemouth youth team and having had a trial at Southampton.

However his interest in football began to wane and he began using drugs himself, Mr Ellacott said. He had hoped to study sports science at Bournemouth University and support his mum but began hanging around with older boys. Mr Ellacott told the court Tiller had a big brother who had already gone to prison and Tiller had "promised he wouldn't follow in his footsteps".

Tiller, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to the charge at an earlier hearing.

Mitigating was Nick Robinson who said Tiller is "a man full of potential".

He said: "Since his arrest he has tried to prove to the courts he deserves a chance. There is no excuse for it. His behaviour has been deplorable."

Judge Brian Forster QC told Tiller: "You had been selling drugs almost on a daily basis in particular to people who you knew."