A LONDON drug dealer who tried to 'swamp' the county with heroine and crack cocaine from his base in a sleepy village has been jailed.

Brian Morgan, of Hall Gardens, East London, appeared at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday having already admitted two counts of possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply.

The 33-year old, the court heard, was only caught by police 'by chance', when officers turned up at a Sutton Courtenay house to arrest another man on drugs offences.

When they went inside to make the arrest, police spotted Morgan surrounded by drug making equipment.

Prosecuting, Cathy Oliver, said: "There was evidence of drug dealing at the property and a few mobile phones.

"Mr Morgan was arrested and he was a little difficult with police and he was then taken into custody."

On searching him they discovered a black bag stashed inside of his underwear containing almost 100 wraps of class A drugs.

Analysis later confirmed he had 57 wraps, or 8.28g, of crack cocaine and 39 wraps, or 5.94g, of heroin.

The value of the haul was estimated at between £960 and £1,900.

At the property a number of phones were also seized, which police experts said indicated a 'county lines' drugs operation setting up in Oxfordshire.

Miss Oliver added that Morgan, together with another man, had travelled up from London to Oxfordshire the day before he was arrested.

Phone records also showed that they had made trips to the Nuneham Courtenay area as well as part of setting up the operation.

They also included a large number of text messages to customers using words associated with drug dealing including 'ting' - a word used for drugs – and 'the line' to refer to their London to Oxford operation.

The court heard that Morgan had 11 previous convictions for 22 offences including for thefts and burglary and had served time in prison for kidnap.

Defending, Graham James, said: "He is a gentleman with a record, it is not an enviable record and he accepts that fully.

"He accepts fully that this going to be a custodial sentence."

Jailing Morgan for 40 months, Judge Zoe Smith said: "The picture emerged that you and another had come from London to just outside Oxford.

"You came to where these drugs would have been prepared and placed into wraps.

"Analysis of the phones led drug experts to remark that this bears all of the hallmarks of the establishment of a 'county line' coming in from outside to really swamp this village and city with drugs."