Dealer: Wolverhampton 'supplier' told me to get drugs or get killed
A small-time dealer told a jury how he was ordered to pick up drugs by a supplier, who threatened to kill him if he did not comply with the demand.
John Cater said in evidence at Warwick Crown Court that he and his girlfriend decided to go to police because supplier Michael Porter had them fearing for their lives.
Porter, aged 30, of Adey Road, Wolverhampton, is accused of being behind a conspiracy to flood Kidderminster and Stratford with heroin and crack cocaine over a two-year period.
He has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiring to supply heroin and two of conspiring to supply crack cocaine.
He also denies assault, false imprisonment, making a threat to kill, conspiring to pervert the course of justice and to launder criminal property, and possessing a phone in jail.
Also on trial are Bakary Dibba, aged 26, of St Michaels Road, Bournemouth, who denies conspiring to supply heroin and crack in Stratford, and Mark Gomersall, 37, whose address cannot be given, who has denied being involved in the Kidderminster conspiracy and false imprisonment.
A fourth man, Luke Allen, 21, of Cole Street, Netherton, pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply the two drugs in Stratford.
Prosecutor Philip Bradley has told the jury Mr Cater and his girlfriend Tina Smith had been exploited by Porter to store and sell drugs.
But in June last year they contacted the police to say that they feared for their lives.
Miss Smith explained she had fallen into debt to Porter, and during the May bank holiday weekend he and Gomersall had turned up at their flat where Porter had punched her in the face.
It is alleged that at the beginning of June Porter called Mr Cater to order him to collect more drugs, threatening to kill him when he refused and ordering them to return to the flat.
But as they got near, they saw a group of men outside armed with knives and called the police.
The trial continues.
