A DRUG dealer has been jailed for five years after carrying a loaded gun through the city centre on a busy Saturday afternoon in the middle of summer.

Lloyd Beddoe was carrying £3,000 of drugs and an 8mm weapon when he was tackled to the ground by three Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in Rewley Road.

The 21-year-old was jailed for five years at Oxford Crown Court yesterday as police insisted it was an “extremely rare incident”.

The officer in charge of the case said it was only the second firearms incident he could remember in the city centre, after an altercation at The Bridge nightclub in May 2008.

Beddoe, of Sutton Road, Northway, was wanted by police in connection with another matter when two PCSOs on bikes approached him in Gloucester Green at 4pm on Saturday, June 5, last year.

He gave a false name and date of birth, which prompted the PCSOs to radio CCTV operators for an identification check.

Officers manning the cameras zoomed in on the suspect and confirmed his true identity, but he ran off towards Worcester Street and Hythe Bridge Street before the PCSOs, and another colleague, wrestled him to the ground.

Inside a Nike rucksack worn by Beddoe was a loaded, blank-firing 8mm SLP handgun, three rounds of ammunition and heroin, crack and cocaine worth a total of up to £3,060, prosecutor Nikki Duncan told the court yesterday. The gun’s safety catch was on.

Beddoe, who has previous convictions for robbery, theft, resisting a police officer and common assault, initially said he had found the rucksack. But he later admitted possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition without a certificate, possession of a firearm and ammunition in public, and three counts of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.

Stephen Bailey, defending, said his client was helping a drug dealer and did not know there was a gun in the bag until he opened it.

He said Beddoe “should have mentioned to police ‘I’m in a bit of a pickle here’” when first approached.

Mr Bailey said his client had a difficult upbringing but “is an eloquent and intelligent young man with a great deal of potential”.

Judge Christopher Compston jailed Beddoe for five years, the automatic minimum for this type of offence.

Outside court, Acting Detective Sergeant Craig Burchall said the gun had been tested and was capable of firing.

He said: “This is an extremely rare incident. We don’t find guns that often. Nobody was threatened with the gun and it has been recovered and destroyed.

“It was for the protection of a drug dealer, he used it for his own protection against other drug dealers.

“There were texts found on his phone about him being robbed before.

“This was an excellent bit of policing by the PCSOs.”

Anyone who knows of any illegal guns should call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

  • Darren Johnson, 33, was jailed at Oxford Crown Court for eight years in 2008 after threatening a nightclub worker outside The Bridge, in Hythe Bridge Street.

Having been told to leave the premises following an argument, Johnson, of no fixed address, pointed the gun at the member of staff.