A drug dealer was caught selling crack and heroin while on bail for doing exactly the same thing in a different Oxfordshire town.

Dekwon Reid, 25, of Cranley Road, Oxford, was addicted to the drugs he was selling when he was first caught by police in Didcot in 2019.

But by 2021, when he ran from officers in Oxford on November 17, he’d given up the habit – having turned a corner after the birth of his baby daughter.

Oxford Crown Court heard he’d continued to deal drugs in part because of the pressure he was under from those higher-up the chain to repay old debts.

His advocate, Alan Walker, said police had even installed panic alarms at his client’s mum’s house as ‘those who claimed they were owed money’ would turn up at the property.

When he was released from prison in 2019 from a 38 month sentence imposed at Aylesbury Crown Court for drug dealing he’d found himself homeless and returned to using drugs.

With the help of the probation service he’d obtained forklift truck driving qualifications and a CSCS card entitling him to work on construction sites.

“The turning point in his life has been the birth of his daughter because at that point he has stopped [taking] drugs,” Mr Walker said.

Reid had enrolled on a college course before he was arrested in November and also had the offer of a job with a sports coaching company.

Jailing him for 30 months, Recorder John Hardy QC told Reid: “This court is not without sympathy towards people who find themselves in the situation you have found yourself in.

“Indeed, this court is very familiar with the cycles of deprivation associated with class A drugs and effectively the cycle of gang related crime which involves an element of compulsion upon those who voluntarily take part in it.”

Earlier, prosecutor Cathy Olliver told the court police were called to reports of a suspicious car outside a Co-op in the Ladygrove Estate, Didcot, on September 16, 2019.

The officers waited for Reid to return to the car. When he spotted the police he fled, jettisoning a package of what turned out to be £300-worth of heroin and crack cocaine.

Found on him was £235 cash and a phone containing texts advertising hard drugs.

Two years later, while waiting for his trial on the 2019 charges, he fled from police in Oxford in almost identical circumstances.

On November 17, the officers were waiting near his 'suspicious' vehicle. He ran away but - again - officers caught up with him.

In his car on that occasion were 26 wraps of crack and 14 wraps of heroin.

Reid pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs and being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

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