A super fit body builder turned to drug dealing after a horrific motorcycle accident led to him losing almost half his body weight.

Former bouncer Daniel Turner became hooked on the drug as he recovered from his injuries and sold it to a small circle of friends to pay for his own habit.

He had been a 22 stone body builder before the motorcycle crash in 2017 but shrank to just 12 stone while being treated in hospital. He has put on weight since but is still affected by his injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Word got round and he ended up supplying at least 22 customers, Exeter Crown Court was told.

He was caught with £440 worth of cocaine, wrapped up in 11 zip bags and ready for sale, and £280 cash when police raided his home in Exmouth on February 2 last year.

Turner, aged 41, of Exeter Road, Exmouth, admitted possession of class A cocaine with intent to supply and was jailed for two years, suspended for 18 months by Recorder Mr Timothy Kenefick.

He was also curfewed for 90 days, ordered to attend a thinking skills course and 20 days of rehabilitation activities and to pay £500 costs.

The judge told him: “You were using cocaine to self-medicate and things spiralled from there. Your drug use increased and you started buying for yourself and friends.

“Things moved on from there and you started to fund your own habit. I am satisfied that your drug use was to some extent the result of the traumatic situation you found yourself in after the accident and your partner’s suicide in 2017.

“I am assured that you now understand that what you did was wrong and you are very sorry for it. You are working with the addiction service Together and volunteering three days a week at the Open Door Café.

“The factors that make your role a lesser one is that you were funding your own habit rather than setting up a commercial scale, money making operation. You were acting on your own and not as part of a gang.

“The aggravating feature is that you were supplying more than a small circle and there were 22 names on your phone.

“The powerful mitigating factors are the fact that you have no relevant previous convictions, you are sorry for what you have done and know it was wrong.”

Miss Rachel Smith, defending, said Turner started using cocaine while recovering from the accident in which he suffered serious injuries that led him to lose ten stone of weight while in hospital.

He had previously been a doorman and body builder but is now only able to work part time at the Open Door community project in Exmouth. He hopes to do voluntary work for the NHS to repay them for saving his life.

Miss Smith said Turner has already overcome an addiction to alcohol and is well on his way to ending his use of cocaine with the help of the Together team.