AN office worker’s life spiralled out of control into drug dealing after he was assaulted in a McDonald’s, a court heard.

Jermaine Tyrell, of Fern Hill Road, Cowley, Oxford, admitted two counts of possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply on January 30 and on Friday the 26-year-old was jailed for three years.

Prosecutor Merril Hughes told the court Tyrell, pictured, was arrested by police at City Motors in Glanville Road, Oxford.

She said officers saw Tyrell arrive at the garage and shake hands with an employee, who got into the drug dealer’s silver Audi. When they arrested him they found 23 wraps of cocaine and 10 wraps of heroin hidden in three Kinder Egg capsules in the back foot well of his car.

Tyrell was also carrying £50 cash and a mobile phone with messages which, Miss Hughes said, were clearly from people trying to buy drugs.

The barrister added he told officers he “only came in for a tyre check” and had no idea why the drugs were in his car when they swooped.

She said the cocaine and heroin had a street value of around £800 and Tyrell also admitted possessing a small amount of cannabis.

Stephen Rose, defending, said his client had been working as an office administrator in an accountancy firm until he was the victim of an assault in 2010.

He said: “He was attacked in McDonald’s – it was a case of mistaken identity.

“It shattered his confidence and self esteem. He began to fall into a much greater reliance on Class A drugs and lost his job. After that his life began to spiral out of control.”

Judge Ian Pringle noted that Tyrell had been caught dealing Class A drugs before but had been “extremely lucky” to receive only a community penalty.

He sentenced him to three years for each of the possession with intent to supply counts, to run at the same time, and imposed no extra sentence for the cannabis.