An alleged drug dealer was found with cocaine and ecstasy at his home after being stopped for speeding on his way to a Halloween party in Exeter.

Damon Mayes had cannabis and cocaine with him in his car when it was intercepted on Western Way, where officers carried out a search after detecting the distinctive smell of skunk.

Police found a cannabis-growing operation in the loft of his home in Newton Abbot and supplies of four different sorts of drugs were seized from a yellow can in the living room.

An iPhone was also recovered which contained alleged drugs messages from customers asking for cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and the dance drug DMT.

These used slang including phrases such as stinky vicar, referring to skunk, Charlie, referring to cocaine, and Mandy, meaning MDMA/ecstasy.

Mayes, aged 27, of Queen Street, Newton Abbot, denies five counts of possessing class A or B drugs with intent to supply.

The jury at Exeter Crown Court have been told he has pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and possessing the drug with intent to supply.

Mr Jonathan Barnes, prosecuting, said Mayes was stopped by police at around 11 pm on October 31, 2014.

He said: ‘He was stopped for speeding, it was nothing to do with drugs. One officer smelled cannabis and as a result the car was searched and in a rear pocket a zip-up pouch was found.

‘It contained a grinder and some cannabis as well as what proved to be several wraps of cocaine. Police also seized £268.05 cash.’

Cannabis plants were found after police found a hidden entrance to the attic through a cupboard and other drugs and equipment were recovered elsewhere in the house.

These included scales, bags, £710 cash, a cutting table, and a yellow lighter fluid can which had a false bottom and contained wraps of different drugs.

The total street value of the cocaine seized was £3,210; DMT was £160.50; LSD was £30; MDMA was £450; MDEC was £62 to £83; and cannabis was £1,273.80, not including the potential of the growing plants.

Mr Barnes said a drug liaison officer examined messages on Mayes’s iPhone and will testify they contained coded drug references from buyers seeking various drugs.

He said: ‘We say that against the background of drugs, the numerous messages indicate Mayes being asked to supply drugs and his being prepared to sell them.

‘The jury can be entirely sure that on that day he was a drug dealer who, with the possible exception of heroin, would supply for profit whatever he could get and was asked to supply.’

In an interview Mayes said he had sold cannabis but the other drugs were for his own use. He believed some were legal highs. He said he was on his way to an event in Exeter when he was stopped but was not intending to sell any drugs.

He said he was a building labourer, music promoter and artist and there was no proof he had supplied any drugs.

The trial continues.