808 State member Darren Partington has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for selling heroin and crack cocaine.

The 45-year-old musician, who joined the acid house originals in 1989, had been pressured into working for his dealer in order to pay off a £300 cocaine debt.

Partington was arrested on July 29 in Beswick while carrying 16 wraps of heroin and eight wraps of crack cocaine, and his phone was found to contain threatening texts from his dealer, as Manchester Evening News reports.

“The threats he received were in the nature of smashing windows, setting fire to things – at the time, following divorce, he was living with his stepfather and it got to the stage other family members were aware of the threats”, his lawyer told Manchester Crown Court.

Partington said he ‘deeply regretted’ his crime, and did not ask his lawyer to plead for a community sentence. Handing down the sentence, Recorder Cowan said he accepted Partington was coerced, but said a ‘deterrent’ prison sentence was inevitable.

Last year a pair of 808 State albums, 1989′s Ninety and 1991′s ex:el, were reissued on cassette.