Rookie pusher took out loan for drugs

A man who took out a loan to buy drugs before being caught by police trying to sell his first ever batch of heroin to passers by on a Bilston street has been jailed for three years.

Simon Butler, aged 21, was described as 'amateurish' and 'foolish' when he appeared before Wolverhampton Crown Court. He was arrested by police on May 5 this year after he was seen acting suspiciously in Silvester Road, Bilston. The court was told yesterday that Butler had been starting out as a drug dealer at the time, and had not managed to sell any drugs before being caught.

Prosecuting, Ms Alka Brigue said: "He said he had taken out a loan from the Provident to buy the drugs. He initially said it was for personal use but a drugs test came back negative.

"He had gone around the Bilston area handing out his telephone number, he never actually sold any wraps."

Police found 18 wraps of heroin in his trouser pockets, containing 2.53 grams of the drug, with an estimated street value of £180.

Butler, of Lonsdale Road, Bilston, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply.

Defending, Christopher O'Gorman said: "He was setting himself up as a low level commercial dealer. This is a 21-year-old who foolishly thought that he could make some money out of those who were blighted by an addiction to heroin.

"It was foolish from the outset, it could never have worked.

"It was his very first amount of heroin that he had not sold on.

"It was done in the most amateurish way."

Sentencing Butler, Judge Michael Challinor told him: "This was a cynical and deliberate intention to traffic a class A drug.

"The harm and the potential harm of what you did is very significant indeed, heroin is at the root of a serious amount of crime and human misery.

"The authorities must do all we can to stamp out his drug."

Judge Challinor ordered the drugs be destroyed.

Police in Wolverhampton have tackled drug crime in the city with Operation Engage, a special unit set up to clamp down on guns and gangs.