A KENDAL teenager has been jailed for illegally supplying drugs to children - three of whom fell ill and were taken to hospital.

Alex Lightley was said to have been 17 when he committed a raft of substance supply crimes involving under-18s late last year.

Lightley peddled the class C drug alprazolam to three teenage "boys" who were later taken to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary - one by ambulance.

One was discovered collapsed in a street, and another found in a "semi-conscious state" in a bedroom.

Prosecutor Joshua Bowker told Carlisle Crown Court: "While in hospital, one of the boys named Mr Lightley as the supplier."

In addition Lightley, now aged 18, offered to supply alprazolam - known under its brand name of Xanax - to a 14-year-old girl. The court heard she was found last Friday night, "soaking wet and drowsy", in a garden having taken the drug.

Lightley, whose address was given as care of Castle Drive, Kendal, admitted almost a dozen drugs offences. T

These included supplying of alprazolam to the three boys who became poorly; offering to supply it to the young girl; and supplying class A ecstasy to a 15-year-old boy arrested after he and Lightley were stopped by police in a Kendal park.

Lightley was punished today by Judge James Adkin, who sentenced him to two years in a young offenders' institution. Judge Adkin told Lightley: "These offences are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified."