A repeat drug dealer told his less-experienced colleague ‘we’re going to prison, lad’ after police caught them with £1,860-worth of heroin and crack.

Nathan Madsen, 22, was said to have reassured friend Charlie Winwood, 23, who had no convictions to his name: “We’ll get three years [in prison] and do one-and-a-half.”

The comments were made after the pair were arrested in Banbury town centre on September 2.

Prosecutor Radha Baan told Oxford Crown Court that police officers spotted Madsen with a known class B drug user in a Banbury graveyard at around 11.30am.

They followed the dealer to a property in Christchurch Court they suspected had been taken over by the out-of-town drug suppliers.

Madsen and Winwood emerged from the flats and their route was tracked by CCTV camera operators while officers plotted the next move.

When police swooped the men tried to run, with Madsen spotted throwing what turned out to be drug wraps over the police car.

The young men were arrested and cautioned. Officers overheard Madsen, who has a previous conviction for drugs supply to his name, tell his friend: “We’re going to prison, lad. We’ll get three years and do one-and-a-half.”

The drugs were later analysed by police experts. In total, the 17.8g of crack cocaine was estimated to have a street value of £1,860.

A text message found on a mobile phone seized from the pair advertised crack cocaine, with would-be customers told the dealers had ‘got white [cocaine] for you’.

They also had £190 in cash suspected to be the proceeds from their drug dealing.

Ms Baan told the court: “It is the Crown’s case the defendants were joint participants in County Lines dealing.”

Madsen, of Clarence Road, Birmingham, had six previous convictions on his record including for dealing cannabis in 2018.

Co-defendant Winwood, of no fixed address, was of previous good character. He was said by his brief, Alice Aubrey-Fletcher, to be suffering from poor mental health and had found the last two months on remand in prison particularly difficult.

Both men pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and possession of criminal property

Dealing with the men in courtroom one on Wednesday afternoon, Judge Ian Pringle QC adjourned sentencing until January 21 next year. He remanded them in custody.

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