Formby man jailed for two years for possession of drugs worth over £13,000

A pair of drug dealers have been jailed after they were found with almost £14,000 worth of heroin and crack cocaine at a house in Exeter.

Karl Flynn and Louis Douglas had been ordered by a gang in Liverpool to take the drugs to Devon, where they were due to be sold on the streets.

About half were already packaged up ready for street sale while a larger block of heroin still had to be weighed and bagged.

The two men were both homeless and were pressured into making the drugs run because they owed money for cannabis or heroin, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Douglas found himself on the streets after being stabbed by his own brother Anthony, aged 27, who he had allowed to stay at his flat. he was only saved when his guard dog named Troy intervened and bit Anthony's arm.

Flynn, aged 29, and Douglas, aged 20, both of no fixed address, admitted possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply.

Flynn was jailed for three years and Douglas for two by Judge Geoffrey Mercer, QC, who said Douglas deserved a lower sentence because he was younger and less involved.

Miss Janice Eagles, prosecuting, said both defendants were asleep at a house in a flat on Topsham Road when police carried out a dawn raid on June 6.

Douglas was on the living room floor while Flynn was upstairs with his girlfriend. Police noticed Douglas was pale and sweating and after taking him to the bathroom he removed a large package of heroin from between his buttocks.

A Kinder Egg and another package were found in the jackets of Flynn's pockets. The egg contained 37 wraps of heroin and the other package help 455 wraps of crack cocaine. The heroin was worth £5,360 and the cocaine £8,330, making a total of £13,690. Messages on phones taken from both men showed evidence of drug dealing.

Mr Nigel Wraith, for Flynn, said he had been homeless or sofa surfing since he was 18 and was forced to deal drugs to pay of debts for heroin.

Miss Julia Brassington, for Douglas, said he had an unhappy childhood in and out of the care system but had become a plasterer. His problems arose when he re connected with his natural family.

His father died soon after they were reunited and last year he agreed to give his older brother a bail address, only for him to attack him, leaving him serious injured.

The attack led to him losing his accommodation and living on the streets where he was vulnerable and easy prey to the drug gang that forced him to go to Devon.