A rapper called ‘Big Keyz’ said he’d been in a drugs den to use the toilet – and had no idea the property was being used by the ‘Hollywood’ drugs line to cut up heroin and crack cocaine.

The 32-year-old, whose real name is Akil Finlayson, told a jury at Oxford Crown Court that he’d travelled from his native London to the university city on November 11, 2019, to watch a film with his partner and her child.

Jurors didn’t believe the story told by the rapper, a member of collective Ice City Boyz, taking around two hours to convict him and co-defendant Mohamed Faqi, 30, of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

A third man, Karim Hamdoun, 23, who’d travelled up from the capital to smoke cannabis and play video games with football club teammate Faqi, was cleared of the charges.

Police arrested Faqi and Hamdoun in St Mary and St John churchyard off Cowley Road after seeing them with a group of known addicts. Faqi had the ‘Hollywood’ drugs line phone, while wraps of drugs were found by a compost bin in the churchyard.

A key found on the men led officers to a property in Emperor Gardens, near Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium.

When they opened the door, the police found Yannis Young, 36, – who later admitted being involved in the Hollywood drugs line – and another man in the house. Finlayson fled through the garden and over a back fence, discarding wraps of drugs as he ran.

Inside the house and in a compost heap in the churchyard where Faqi and Hamdoun were arrested police discovered drugs with an estimated value of £4,900 if sold in the weights in which they were found or up to £9,500 if cut up in to £10 street deals.

Drugs expert Bryn Lewis of Thames Valley Police said a message sent from the drugs line phone on November 2 to six numbers was consistent with typical advertising messages. The message read: “Am on. Hollywood. Bigger and better.”

The drug wraps found were consistently underweight, with quarter ounce – of 7g – deals ranging between 6.3g and 6.8g. However, Mr Lewis said that was not uncommon and he had seen other lines selling lighter weights.

Giving evidence in his own defence, Finlayson denied being involved in dealing drugs. He said he’d been at Emperor Gardens to return a phone to the householder, a friend of his partner’s who’d left the mobile at a party in London, and to use the toilet.

He had a spliff on him and panicked when police knocked at the door, jurors were told. He was in Oxford to go to the cinema with his partner and her child.

Faqi, similarly, denied taking part in a County Lines drug dealing operation, claiming that he’d been invited to stay in Oxford after he was thrown out by his parents. He was addicted to heroin and, on the day he was caught, had agreed to take a phone to another man who he suggested was in the Cowley Road graveyard.

Hamdoun told jurors he’d paid £70 to be driven from the capital to meet pal Faqi, whom he’d met playing football. They had planned to play video games and smoke cannabis.

Hamdoun, of Valley Drive, Brent, denied knowing his friend was a drug dealer. He had naively helped wrap up drugs and waited in a taxi as Faqi visited ‘friends’ in Oxford.

Finlayson, of Helperby Road, Harlesden, and Faqi, of Fishers Way, Wembley, were remanded in custody and will be sentenced on Friday, November 19.

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