A drug dealer who kept forgetting in court how many children he has was jailed for four years for trying to sell drugs in Oceana nightclub.

Marcus West, 31, from Brixton, had been found guilty at Kingston Crown Court of trying to sell 62 ecstasy tablets to clubbers at Oceana last October.

Sentencing West on Friday, Miss Recorder Humphryes QC said: "If anything you have said in court and in your probation report is true, then you of all people should know the dangers of drugs. The versions you give of your background and your drug habit, if you have one at all, are inconsistent, in particular about the number of children you have which varies from five during your trial to seven now."

She added: "You had every intention of selling these drugs to people of any age without knowing what damage they could cause. The tablets look like they have been produced in someone's back kitchen and you had no idea how dangerous they would be."

West had been on a night out at Oceana on October 18 last year when he was stopped by a club bouncer and asked to empty his pockets. He suddenly made a dash for the door of the club, putting something in his mouth as he ran. When the security staff caught up with him, they saw that he was choking on a plastic bag of ecstasy tablets that he had tried to swallow and were forced to carry out the Heimlich manoeuvre.

At the time of the offence last year, West, who has several previous convictions for theft and robbery dating back to 1993, was working as a freelance salesman for the Daily Telegraph. He has also previously worked with asylum seekers for the Home Office.

In court, West claimed he had bought the 62 tablets for his own personal use because of his "raging drug habit", saying: "I love taking drugs and I've taken almost every drug going over the last 15 years."