A DRUG dealer caught trying to flush his stash of heroin and cocaine down the toilet has been jailed.

Police swooped on Lloyd Lumsden’s west Oxford home and found him trying to flush quantities of drugs down the toilet, a court heard on Thursday.

Prosecuting, Cathy Olliver told Oxford Crown Court the 59-year-old had been arrested with 11.9g of cocaine and 4.28g of heroin in October.

She said: “He was trying to flush it down the lavatory.”

Lumsden, of Osney Lane, denied possessing cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.

However, he was found guilty of both charges by a jury at the same court on Wednesday, July 1.

Claire Fraser, defending, appealed for a suspended sentence because of Lumsden’s bad health.

She said: “He is aware it certainly passes the custody threshold.

“I hope to persuade your honour to impose the maximum suspended sentence on the basis of his ill health.

“He was remanded in custody for another matter at some point last year, benefit fraud, for which he was acquitted.

“However, he required oxygen at night and his health was deteriorating significantly whilst in custody.”

But Judge Ian Pringle told Lumsden he could not spare him a prison sentence.

He said: “You must understand Class A drug dealing is always treated most seriously by the courts.

“The major health problems that you have at present are likely to continue, but I would be failing in my duty if I were not to pass an immediate custodial sentence.”

Lumsden, wearing a cream suit with his dreadlocked hair tied in a knot on top of his head, stood silently while Judge Pringle jailed him for 30 months.

Judge Pringle also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and forfeiture of £851.20 found in Lumsden’s home.