A single dad who used the money for his children's Christmas presents to buy almost 500 ecstasy tablets has been jailed for 20 months.

Gerry Griffin, 37, went into Oxford city centre on October 27 with £475 to buy his two sons a Nintendo Wii games console, Oxford Crown Court was told.

But, unable to find the popular gadget, he sat down with a can of lager in Gloucester Green and ended up buying drugs with a street value of up to £1,884.

Prosecutor Clare Tucker said Griffin, of Normandy Crescent, Cowley, bought 516 pills for £300 after being approached by two Eastern European men.

She said: "He initially purchased four tablets and took them. He thought they were quite good and went back for more.

"He said ecstasy reminded him of the free spirit of the 70s and he thought he would sell them to improve Christmas for his children."

Miss Tucker said the defendant believed he could make a profit and use the extra cash on more presents for his children.

She added: "The defendant told police 'I thought I might be able to get my way into a good Christmas. I thought it was too good to be true at first but I thought even if they go for a pound each I will be £200 up'."

Chemical analysis reveal- ed 471 of the 516 tablets contained MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy.

Mrs Taylor said police estimated the street value of the 471 tablets at between £1,430 and £1,884.

Griffin, who is unemployed, was caught with the stash in Roger Bacon Lane, Oxford, on the same evening after CCTV operators alerted police to a drug deal in progress.

Henry James, defending, said his client was a dedicated parent and had made a misguided attempt to make money.

He said: "This was a moment of drunken stupidity. He was going to buy a Wii machine and, in frustration at their unavailability, he started drinking. It was not a professional operation on his part but, in my submission, a stupid one."

Sending him to prison, Judge Anthony King told Griffin yesterday: "You should have thought about your children before you committed the crime."