Benefits Blown On 'Blow'

A jobless single dad who used benefit handouts to buy cocaine was caught by police snorting a line in his car.

Father-of-two Timothy Bell, 30, pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court (pictured) to possessing £25 worth of the class A drug in a Bromley street on May 28.

The unemployed plumber, who receives £140 per week and is single-handedly raising children aged one and seven, was seen by officers sitting in his car snorting the cocaine.

When approached he threw a small bag containing the drugs away, but later admitted: "I had two lines of charlie earlier."

Police also recovered £120 cash stuffed in the car's console.

"I have heard you have modest means, but obviously not insufficient to buy cocaine," Judge Nicholas Ainley told Bell, fining him £150, with £120 costs.