Dealer gets five years after drugs haul found

A drug dealer has been jailed for five years after being caught with hundreds of pounds of drugs when police raided a Wolverhampton car valet firm.

Stephen McGregor was told he was an "active street dealer" by a judge, after it emerged he had been jailed for four years in 2001 for selling crack cocaine to undercover police.

Mr Glyn Samuel, prosecuting, said McGregor fled when police launched a drugs raid on Bushbury Valeting, Fordhouse Road, Low Hill, at around 11.20am on November 5.

But the 33-year-old fell to the ground when he unsuccessfully tried to charge through a garden gate, and he then released his grip on packets containing the drugs.

McGregor had heroin and crack cocaine worth £740 and his mobile phone continued to receive text messages requesting drugs even after it was seized, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.

McGregor, of Tennyson Road, The Scotlands, Wolverhampton admitted possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply.

Judge John Warner told McGregor that if he were to be convicted again, the sentence would be seven or more years.

McGregor was found with crack cocaine with a street value of £450 at his lodgings in Low Hill in January last year.

But while on bail he was contacted by mobile phone by undercover drugs squad officers and on five occasions did deals with them. He has previous convictions including robbery, burglary, dishonesty and car crime.

Mr Jon Roe, defending, told Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday McGregor had been hit by financial problems after he lost his employment and his family began to struggle.

Mr Roe added: "He then relapsed into his old habits."

He said that McGregor had now beaten his own addiction to drugs.

Last week, another drug dealer was given six years after being caught ferrying almost £300,000 worth of cocaine in the Black Country.

The drugs were found in two locked safes in the back of Christopher Glover's car in Coseley. Glover, aged 29, of Lowbridge Walk, Bilston, admitted possessing drugs with intent to supply.