A CUSTOMER of a teenage drug peddler was so ill after taking ecstasy that she was rushed to hospital, Worcester Crown Court was told.

And another customer of 18-year-old Joseph Lovell was a girl of only 14, said Stuart Clarkson, prosecuting.

Lovell, who became a drug pusher to enable him to pay off a £2,000 debt, was sent to detention for two years.

He admitted two charges of supplying ecstasy, two of offering to supply the drug and one of having the drug intending to supply it.

Mr Clarkson said Lovell had gone to the flat of Kaleigh Roberts in High Street, Evesham, and offered ecstasy to her and three other girls.

Erica Hodgkins, aged 17, bought one of the pills and later became so ill that an ambulance was called to take her to hospital.

"It was clear that she had been drinking and had taken drugs," said Mr Clarkson. "She also suffered from epilepsy."

Later that night, a 14-year-old girl met Lovell outside the Green Dragon pub in Evesham and he sold her an ecstasy tablet for £5. After police heard about Miss Hodgkins' illness, Lovell, of Charlton Close, Evesham, was arrested at home and 27 ecstasy tablets were found on him.

Acted stupidly

At first he insisted they had been planted but soon admitted he had been selling them at £5 each.

Andrew Tucker, defending, said Lovell conceded he had been acting stupidly but wanted money to pay back a debt on his motorcycle, which was wrecked in an accident.

He also almost died in a car smash in July, which left him with a virtually useless arm.

The car, in which he was a back-seat passenger, crashed into a tree and a branch speared his armpit and severed an artery. Only a transfusion of three gallons of blood saved his life.

Lovell was hard-working and well thought of by his employers. His long-treasured ambition to join the Army would not be realised.

Judge David McEvoy QC said Lovell had done well since leaving school and had a good character. But he had decided that selling ecstasy was a way of paying off his debt and must have known the risk if he was caught.