A man found to have more than £5,000 of high purity crack cocaine in a Burton garden has been jailed.
Myles Fraser, 23, was caught after an undercover surveillance operation monitored his property, in Wellington Street. They saw drugs changing hands out in an alleyway to the side of the house.
They approached a 17-year-old who they had seen dealing wraps of class A substances to users. The youth then contacted Fraser, his co-defendant, who was described as the "the brains behind the operation".
Detectives then carried out a raid at the house and uncovered a bag next to a fence in the back garden which contained crack cocaine with a street value of £5,310.
They arrested the Burton teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and Fraser and seized the drugs.
Sentencing them at Derby Crown Court, sitting at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court, Recorder Julie Warburton said: "Drugs, particularly dangerous and vicious class A drugs such as these, ruin lives and families and people like you propagate this.
"Drug users are often the most vulnerable members of society and they are the ones that fall foul of it.
"You carried out these drug deals in broad daylight and they were observed by police officers. When they went to search the property a police dog found more than 53g of crack cocaine hidden in the garden.
"You, Fraser, were the brains behind the operation and I accept that your co-defendant was your runner."
Sarah Allen, prosecuting said undercover officers were secretly watching the Wellington Street house at 10.30am on September 15 last year.
She said: "They observed the 17-year-old meeting a known drug user in an alleyway next to the house. They stopped the drug user [away from the scene] and found him to be carrying one wrap of crack cocaine and one wrap of heroin.
"At 10.50am they then observed the defendant meeting a different drug user in the alleyway and a stop of him (the user) found him to be in possession of the same quantities of both drugs.
"The defendant was arrested in the alleyway at 1.20pm and a search of the house found Mr Fraser who they also arrested.
"They searched the property and found a bag next to a fence in the back garden which was analysed and found to contain 53.1g of 77 per cent purity crack cocaine."
Miss Allen said both men answered "no comment" to questions they were asked in police interviews.
Fraser later pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs and the teenager admitted supplying class A drugs.
Miss Allen said: "The crown accept that Mr Fraser was the main person in the operation and that the teenager was a runner.”
Stephen Hennessy, for the teenager, said: "He was dependant on cannabis at the time and that was inextricably linked to his offending."
He was handed a two-year youth rehabilitation order, with a six-month curfew confining him to his home address from 7pm to 7am, each day.
Michael Anning, for Fraser, of Willenhall Road, Wolverhampton, said his client had turned to drug dealing to pay off a debt from a failed street-food business he started with financial help from the Princes Trust.
He was jailed for five years.
