Student jailed after travelling to Devon to deal drugs

Joseph Adeyemi turned to dealing after buying cannabis on credit and failing to clear his debts while studying in the capital.

The 19-year-old, of Clapgate Gardens, Wolverhampton, owed cash to a London-based gang who pressurised him into dealing heroin and crack cocaine.

He was caught after police swooped on a property in Exeter, Devon after suspecting the home was being used as a drugs den.

Jailing the drug user for two years, Judge Evans said: "You had come to Exeter from the Midlands and had no reason to be here other than to deal in drugs.Your first instinct was to run you did not get far.

"You find yourself here as a result of bad personal choices and a limited degree of pressure resulting from getting into debt for cannabis use.

"Any involvement with illegal drugs carries a risk, and you exposed yourself to that pressure."

Police raided the home of a known drug user in Old Tiverton Road, Exeter, after believing dealers were operating from it it on March 20.

Officers thought the home was being 'cuckooed', prosecutor Mr William Hunter said.

Adeyemi attempted to flee and ran from officers but was later caught with with more than £150, the prosecutor added.

The dealer dropped two packages from his tracksuit bottoms which contained 29 wraps of heroin and 40 of crack cocaine, each with a street value of £10.

Mr Hunter said: "The prosecution case is that he was a drug dealer using the home address of a local user to facilitate the distribution of class A drugs."

Defence barrister Mr Warren Robinson said Edeyemi was forced to make the trip to Exeter to pay off the drugs debt he had run up while studying.

He added: "So many young people like him come before the courts while the people who pull the strings do not. No explicit threats were made but he knew what they were capable of doing."

Adeyemi admitted possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, Exeter Crown Court heard.