A cocky Canterbury man thought he had found the perfect place to hide his stash of drugs... tied to his manhood.

But sharp-eyed police officers who had gone to Nunnery Fields after complaints of drug dealing, spotted Alan Mutch strolling down the road.

They stopped him and discovered 19 wraps of cannabis inside his underpants secured by an elastic band.

Jim Harvey, prosecuting, told Canterbury Crown Court the officers were driving at 9.40am on January 14 after being given information drugs might have been taken.

"It was then they saw the defendant walking down the hill and decided to conduct a search under the Misuse Of Drugs Act," he said.

"Suffice it to say that 19 wraps were then found somewhere on his person."

The home of 45-year-old Mutch, of Nunnery Fields, was then searched and two more plastic bags – "each the size of a golf ball" – were found, containing 48 more wraps of cannabis and heroin, and £670 was also seized.

He later told police officers that after being released from prison he had suffered from suicidal feelings.

Canterbury Crown Court, where Mutch's case was heard

Mutch also claimed that before being jailed he had hidden two bags of heroin in a nearby field – and planned to kill himself with an overdose.

"He said he was on his way to see someone who used heroin to find out how much he would have to take in order to take his own life by way of an overdose," he added.

Phil Rowley, defending Mutch - who was jailed for four years in December 2010 on drugs charges - said the jail sentence had "a profound effect on him".

He said: "Upon his release in 2012 he struggled and consulted his GP on five occasions following his release and was diagnosed with a depressive illness.

"He was in such a depressed state that he was thinking about harming himself. He was at a very low ebb because of his difficulties."

Mutch was jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting possessing the class A drugs with intent to supply.