A promising footballer, who became a drugs “cuckoo” in Ashford, now has a new nest – a prison cell.

Sportsman Shay Clarke travelled from his home in Battersea to Kent to live for days at a time at a house in the town.

A judge was told that it is a practice known as “cuckooing” where a dealer takes over a house or flat and then recruits drugs runners.

Clarke had been stopped as he cycled in Brigadier Gardens, Ashford, in August last year, carrying bags containing 50 wraps of cocaine and heroin.

Officers also discovered he was carrying house keys.

The 20-year-old – who had no previous convictions – told officers that he was staying at a house but did not know where it was.

Prosecutor Dominic Connolly told Canterbury Crown Court he gave police directions to a house in Providence Street. That was later raided by police and officers discovered more Class A drugs, with a street value of more than £5,000, together with £9,000 in cash.

Mr Connolly said that a mobile phone was also found which revealed “extensive and detailed lists accounting for drug dealing activity over a prolonged period.”

He added the phone also referred to “re-loading” (re-stocking of drugs), controlling “runners” (those who sell on the street), recruiting others, “cuckooing” and “plugging” (the secreting of illegal drugs on the body).

His barrister Darren Snow told the judge that Clarke was “a cuckoo” who lived with his family in Battersea and had travelled to Ashford on three occasions last year, in March, July and August, as part of a London-Kent drugs network.

Mr Snow said: “He is not a drugs user. His background is an aspiring sportsman, an accomplished footballer and he has been offered scholarships to study in America.”

But Judge Heather Norton jailed him for 40 months after he admitted possessing Class A drugs, intending to supply them.

She said: “I have read references about you and they all speak of you as a kind, considerate, caring, polite and highly talented young man who is of high integrity.

“They clearly didn’t know you as well as they thought.

“You were acting as a cuckoo, a problem which Kent now has of young people coming down from the south of London, establishing themselves in flats or houses to carry out their unpleasant business, which causes human misery.”

Detective Constable Robert Goodban, who led the investigation said: "Clarke is a member of a gang associated with cross border criminality who was involved in a process known as cuckooing.

"This is where a criminal takes over the property of a vulnerable individual in order to deal drugs, trying to evade detection by moving across county lines.’