A DRUG dealer who told police he was doing people a favour by supplying them with ecstacy and cannabis successfully appealed against the length of his jail sentence.

After being arrested with 81 ecstasy tablets and a half kilo of cannabis Keith Smith, 33, said he was providing an "altruistic" public service and had taken a "calculated risk" of getting caught.

Smith of South Avenue, Leigh, was sentenced to five years in jail at Bolton Crown Court on February 4 this year, after pleading guilty to supplying ecstacy and cannabis, and possession with intent to supply both drugs.

Mr Justice Butterfield cut that term to three and a half years at the Criminal Appeal Court in London and ruled the sentencing judge had "placed him too high on the scale of drug offending," given his plea of guilty and full admissions.