A drug addict was caught with nearly 30 wraps of heroin he’d been ordered to pick up from Birmingham.

Gavin Green, 31, had been ordered to courier the wraps from the Midlands in order to pay off a drugs debt, Oxford Crown Court heard.

The gangsters sent a female driver to pick him up from his Banbury home before driving him to Birmingham.

Green was caught by police in the front seat of her car in Ruscote Avenue, Banbury, on August 4, 2020. Found on him was the parcel containing 27 wraps of heroin and an Alcatel mobile phone containing one message pointing to him being involved in the supply of class A drugs.

Prosecutor Robert Lindsey said the woman driving the car was found to have three wraps, which Green had been instructed to give her.

The 30 wraps had a street value of around £300.

Sentencing him to 12 months’ imprisonment suspended for a year and a half, Judge Michael Gledhill QC said: “You were abusing your body by taking class A controlled drugs.

“As a result of that you got yourself into debt with your dealer. As a result of that when you were told to go to Birmingham to pick up drugs and bring it back to give it to somebody else you fell for that.

“You know perfectly well heroin is illegal. It is illegal to possess it and supply it and those who supply it go to prison.”

Mitigating, Sumita Mahtab-Shaikh said her client had incurred a debt to his dealers as a result of drugs being seized a few days earlier. He was told the way to repay the debt was to courier a package of drugs from Birmingham.

He had been addicted to drugs for five years following what the court heard were ‘false and damaging allegations made against him’, although the nature of the allegations was not set out.

Since his arrest he had approached addiction service Turning Point for help and was now prescribed a heroin substitute.

Ms Mahtab-Shaikh said her client was remorseful. He cared for his disabled partner.

Green, of Gillett Road, Banbury, pleaded guilty at the Magistrates’ Court to possession with intent to supply heroin. He had no previous convictions.

Judge Gledhill ordered Green complete an 18 month drug rehabilitation programme and said his caring responsibilities would keep him out of trouble.

“You make sure you don’t ever come back before these courts again,” he told Green.

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