A drug dealer has been remanded in custody after coming face to face with a judge he mocked on Facebook.

Daniel Sledden, 27, had posted an obscene message on the social media site - just 40 minutes after Judge Beverley Lunt gave him a suspended sentence for selling cannabis to friends earlier this month.

In the message he wrote: “Beverly Lunt go suck my ****.”

The post also said: “Cannot believe my luck 2 year suspended sentence beats the 3 year jail yes pal!”

His brother and co-defendant Samuel Sledden, 22, who also had admitted drug dealing, also commented on the post.

He said: “Bet we wouldn’t get a chance like this agen [sic], thumbs up’.”

Both brothers were hauled back before the courts for a review of their sentence after the Facebook posts were shown to the judge by the Accrington Observer.

At the hearing, the brothers, who have posted apologies to the judge on Facebook, were both denied bail and remanded in custody for ten days after the hearing was adjourned.

Daniel, Samuel and their dad William, 45, all of Hopwood Street, Accrington, were all given suspended sentences after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis at the earlier hearing.

Daniel and Samuel were both given two-year jail sentences, suspended for two years, after being previously convicted in 2012 for possessing amphetamines and cannabis with intent to supply.

At today’s hearing, Judge Lunt told the court that it was an ‘unusual case’.

She said: “I have thought about it and researched it long and hard and it doesn’t amount to a contempt of court or even an indirect attempt so I have no powers to deal with them.

“I am not aware of them having committed any criminal offence.

“It’s plain they never intended for me to see it so it’s not harassment.

“In my judgment the appropriate thing is to look again at my sentences and the things I had taken into consideration, looking at the questions of remorse and contrition as I also took that into account as well as the length of time that had passed [since the offences].

“Let me make it plain, I’m not talking about increasing the sentence. Two years is correct. I have no doubt about that whatsoever.

“It is about what I would have done had I appreciated as I now do from the posts their true views and what they really thought of the court proceedings.”

The case was adjourned for a hearing at Preston Crown Court on February 26 following a request by the brothers’ legal team for a full transcript of the judge’s comments made during the original sentencing.

Daniel Prowse, representing the brothers, said both defendants have ‘apologised and expressed their remorse’.

He said the court needed to consider whether the comments made on Facebook ‘undermined the whole basis in which sentence was passed’.

He said: “This is a case where it’s going to be very important for everybody to know what was said when sentencing was passed.”

Judge Lunt denied both defendants bail and remanded them in custody until February 26.