Michael Carroll admitted having cocaine worth over �1,000

Instead, Michael Carroll, 20, of Swaffham, Norfolk, must complete a 12-month drug testing and treatment order.

Carroll was sentenced on Tuesday for possessing cocaine worth �1,000.

Magistrates chairman Julia Richardson said: "You have not got a good record for complying with court orders...If you come back again, custody obviously will be on the agenda."

Police raided Carroll's house last December.

In addition to cocaine, officers found herbal cannabis with a street value of �10.90, cannabis resin worth �70 and 20 magic mushrooms.

On Tuesday, Mrs Richardson said they had decided to follow a recommendation made in the pre-sentence report and imposed the drug testing and treatment order instead of a custodial sentence.

Carroll was ordered to pay �70 costs and magistrates ordered that the drugs found during a police raid on his home in December should be destroyed.

'Not easy option'

Carroll left court without commenting but made an obscene hand gesture to photographers as he walked away.

Passing sentence, Mrs Richardson told him: "We have read the reports ... it has obviously been recommended that you go on what we call a drug testing and treatment order and we are going along with that recommendation.

"It is not an easy option. It is very difficult."

Mrs Richardson said Carroll would undergo regular testing for evidence of drugs in his system and would also regularly attend court for the order to be reviewed.

"If you break any terms of your order, you will be brought back to court and face being punished for the breach of that order."

'Addicted to cocaine'

Carroll's lawyer, Neil Meachem, had told magistrates that Carroll had sought solace in drugs after the "awful disintegration" of his marriage when his 20-year-old wife Sandra left him, taking their one-year-old daughter Brooke.

"In September of last year, he and his wife separated.

"So-called friends introduced him to drugs and effectively said 'this will take the pain away'.

"Of course, this was a very, very foolhardy mistake and he quickly became addicted to cocaine. He is feeling empty. He is feeling lonely.