A SENIOR crown court judge has warned of the dangers of ecstasy and said that those found bringing the drug into North Wales would be severely dealt with.

A young man who walked into a nightclub with nearly 200 ecstasy tablets on him was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Neil Adrian Edwards, 21, of Adderley Bank, Acton, Wrexham, admitted possessing the class A drug with intent to supply and supplying one tablet inside the club.

But he denied he was a dealer. Edwards claimed he was a courier who had been asked by a man in Manchester to deliver them to a pub in Wrexham a couple of days later.

They were still in his pocket when he went to the Tivoli Ballroom Nightclub at Buckley and when he was searched by security staff had simply given one of the tablets to a friend, he claimed.

Judge John Rogers, QC, sitting at Mold Crown Court, rejected his story and sentenced Edwards as a dealer.

'The seriousness of this incident is that ecstasy can kill people. They are not made by pharmaceutical companies. They are made by chemists who are criminals and they get it wrong.

'Edwards was deliberately travelling to Manchester, bringing in about 200 ecstasy tablets to North Wales which could have threatened the health of any young person who took them. That is the seriousness of it,' explained Judge Rogers.

The judge said he was satisfied Edwards went to Manchester with the sole intention of purchasing the ecstasy and was then driven straight to the Tivoli with his wares.

He had supplied one tablet to a friend and security staff were to be congratulated on the way they had detected him.

And he told Edwards: 'You must understand only a substantial prison sentence is appropriate for those who bring drugs to North Wales for the purpose of profit.' Prosecutor Andrew Clarke told how security staff at the club became suspicious when they saw a young man drop a single white tablet.

They spoke to him, confirmed it was ecstasy and he was ejected.

They then kept their eye out for someone who may be supplying drugs and when Edwards approached and asked where the other young man had gone, he was searched and three bags containing 183 ecstasy tablets were found.

He was arrested and hid another bag containing a further 15 tablets in the police car.

Defending barrister Matthew Dun-ford said Edwards had been to Manchester previously, was drunk, fell against a car and the man who owned it demanded £500.

He was so frightened of the man and his associates he agreed to pay him and in order to write off the debt agreed to take the drugs.

But the judge rejected Edwards' story as nonsense.