A DRUG dealer was caught with a stash of drugs hidden in a cigarette packet after he was stabbed by fellow drug dealers and had to be rushed to hospital, a court heard.

Leslie Prince, of Luther Street, Oxford, denies one count of possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

At the start of his trial at Oxford Crown Court yesterday jurors were told that the 31-year old had been at a park in Blackbird Leys on the night of April 12 2017.

Outlining the case prosecutor Kirsty Allman said that while there Prince was attacked by a gang of dealers and it was while he was being treated that officers found heroin on him.

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She said: "The prosecution say it is about a drug dealer, Leslie Prince, caught in essence by his own misfortune when he was stabbed by other drug dealers.

"He was caught because he was forced to seek assistance."

She said that nearby residents came out to aid Prince before police and paramedics arrived on the scene.

When he was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, jurors were told, officers went on to discover a Sterling cigarette box containing 35 wraps of heroin inside his jacket.

A mobile phone seized from him also had messages indicating drug dealing activity, the court heard.

The jury went on to hear that during police interview about the drugs Prince claimed that he 'knew nothing' about them.

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He told officers, prosecutors said, that the cigarette packet was not his and he believed his own packet of cigarettes had fallen during the park assault.

Police were told, it was claimed, that when a member of the public returned to the scene to reclaim Prince's belongings the wrong packet of cigarettes - containing the drugs - could have been taken instead.

The trial continues.