A County Lines dealer will be sentenced later this month – after he abandoned a basis of plea.

Ryan Jones, 25, had already pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply heroin and cocaine.

But he disagreed with the prosecution’s claims about the role he’d played in the operation, taking the case to a Newton Hearing – a special court hearing where a judge hears evidence and rules on matters in dispute.

At Oxford Crown Court on Wednesday, he entered a new basis of plea that was – broadly – accepted by the prosecution.

Judge Ian Pringle QC bailed Jones, of Bushley Close, Redditch, to return to court on August 19 for sentence.

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