Crime Correspondent: Lewes Crown Court

Christopher Bywaters had built up a significant client base after initially buying half an ounce of cocaine from a supplier for £400 and selling it on

Christopher Bywaters after starting to smoke cannabis his attitude on life began to change.At Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday Bywaters, from Peacehaven, was jailed for two and half years.Police discovered cocaine under the gearstick cover and sun visor of his car in September last year The court was told how he had built up a significant client base after initially buying half an ounce of cocaine from a supplier for £400 and selling it on for £750.Mrs Bywaters revealed yesterday how Bywaters had become mixed up in a cycle of debt and drug use. Before the drug dealing offence the 20-year-old had no previous convictions and was described by friends and family as a "lovely, shy, polite boy,"Mrs Bywaters said he was a "quiet boy" and sought to improve his confidence in drama classes.Following GCSE success at Tideway School in Newhaven, Bywaters began a carpentry course in Brighton when he was 17. He worked part-time for his uncle's landscape gardening business and formed ambitions to start his own business.Bywaters' attitude started to change at around this time. His mother said: "He had started smoking the year before, and after that he started smoking pot. He had mood swings, but that's just their hormones at that age, isn't it?"Mrs Bywaters thinks her son got in with the wrong crowd at college."He was homely and had never been drinking. He used to think it was stupid. Moody "Christopher was easily influenced, and became popular for the wrong reasons." In September 2006 Bywaters' uncle stopped employing him.Mrs Bywaters said: "He had become unreliable and moody."I don't blame my brother for sacking him. It's hard enough trying to make a living when you're running your own business, let alone when you have to drag a reluctant teenager around with you." Bywaters was living at home at this time when his mother became concerned his involvement with drugs was deepening. "He was going out at all times of the night. I didn't know where he was. "I didn't have a clue he was taking drugs". By February 2007 Bywaters had rekindled his ambition to start a landscape gardening business and was studying horticulture. But the cost of studying and running a car with no income landed him in financial difficulty. It was at this point recreational use turned to dealing.

Christopher Bywaters had built up a significant client base after initially buying half an ounce of cocaine from a supplier for £400 and selling it on

Christopher Bywaters after starting to smoke cannabis his attitude on life began to change.At Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday Bywaters, from ...