The nephew of a Nottingham BBC Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero award-winner has been caught dealing heroin and crack cocaine.
Police found wraps of the two class A substances after they watched Zehn Iqbal conduct a deal in Cambridge Street, Normanton.
After arresting the 20-year-old they searched the bedroom of his nearby grandparents' home, where more drugs were discovered.
Two mobile phones were also seized and on them was evidence he had been sending out mass marketing messages to users that he was out selling.
The hearing was told when he is released from prison, Iqbal has been offered an opportunity to turn his life around with the help of his Nottingham-based uncle, Marcellus Baz.
Mr Baz is the chief executive officer and founder of the Nottingham School of Boxing, which works with young people and offenders and tries to turn them away from a life of crime.
His work saw him handed the 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero Award.
Jailing Iqbal for 27 months at Derby Crown Court, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said: “It is quite plain you have had no support or assistance growing up.
“I have read a reference from Mr Baz who is, in fact, your uncle and there is a role model who has helped others like yourself and has offered to assist you when you are able to enjoy your liberty.”
Eddie Leonard, prosecuting, said police spotted Iqbal carrying out a deal in Cambridge Street, on December 8, 2020.
She said officers approached him and he dropped two wraps – one of crack cocaine and one of heroin.
Miss Leonard said: “He was candid straight away with the officers saying ‘I am sorry, I have made a mistake, I have got a college interview tomorrow’.
“They went to his address in Strutt Street where was was living at the time with his grandparents and a search revealed more drugs, digital scales and two mobile phones.
“The total value of the drugs seized was some £410 but if cut into smaller deals and sold could have made £800.”
Iqbal, formerly of Malham Road, Littleover, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply both drugs.
He has five previous convictions for nine offences including selling cannabis when he was aged 17.
Samreen Akhtar, mitigating, said her client has been exploited by those further up the drugs chain and was selling to fund his own habit.
She said: “He grew up in harrowing circumstances. His father abandoned him and his mother from a young age and at the time of this offence his mother was a serving prisoner and a sex worker with her own drug habit.
“He began taking drugs at the age of 13 but his uncle, Marcellus Baz, who is a former BBC sports unsung hero, has offered him the chance to restart his life in Nottingham on his release from custody.”