A JAMAICAN drug dealer who travelled to Oxford to sell heroin and crack cocaine has been jailed.

David Thomas, of Teviot Avenue, Aveley, Essex, was arrested in St Aldate’s in Oxford city centre on October 17 this year after he ran from police.

The 37-year-old was found to be carrying 43 wraps of crack cocaine and 20 wraps of heroin, both Class A drugs, together with around £860.

Cathy Olliver, prosecuting, said Thomas was also carrying two mobile phones and £100 in cash.

She told Judge Gordon Risius he was interviewed about his connections with London drug dealers but refused to talk to the police.

Claire Fraser, defending, said Thomas had arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 2001 when he came over for a wedding and then stayed illegally.

She said he had worked as a painter and decorator, but the murder of his brother in Jamaica and the death of his mother had led to his drug addiction.

She said: “He owed drug dealers money and they said he should come and sell drugs in Oxford so his wife wouldn’t find out.”

Judge Gordon Risius sentenced James, who has no previous convictions, to two-and-a-half years in prison and told him to pay a £120 victims’ surcharge.