A PROMISING footballer has escaped being locked up after he was caught flushing drugs down a toilet.

Wisdom Davidson tried to stop police during a drugs search at a Braintree flat on August 11.

He barred a door, but a court heard how officers managed to get past the 18-year-old.

He was seen repeatedly trying to flush a toilet before police managed to arrest him.

A total of 32 wraps of heroin and cocaine were recovered from the toilet bowl, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

Davidson was banned from Braintree and given a work order after he admitted obstructing police during a drugs search.

George Blower, mitigating, said Davidson was a promising footballer and had been through the Arsenal training scheme.

He wanted to put these matters behind him and concentrate on becoming a professional footballer or an accountant, Mr Blower said.

Davidson was given a 220-hour unpaid work order, a four-month curfew between 10pm and 5am and he was also banned from Braintree for 18 months.

The court heard he had spent 179 days in custody, the equivalent of an eight-month prison sentence.

Operation Hayward resulted in 24 people being arrested by police after raids at houses in Braintree, Witham and London in the summer.