Hero PC Andrew Harper nabbed a drug dealer when man’s BMW tailgated his unmarked police car on the A34 near Abingdon.

Rakesh Singh, the cocaine and cannabis dealer behind the wheel of the German motor, sped away when Mr Harper pulled over to let him pass on the evening of Valentine’s Day 2019.

The now 27-year-old accelerated to around 100mph and began tailgating another vehicle up ahead.

Mr Harper, who almost exactly six months later would be killed in the line of duty when he tried to stop a gang of youths stealing a quad bike, illuminated his unmarked car’s blue lights and pulled the BMW over.

Oxford Mail: PC Andrew Harper, who stopped Singh on the A34, was tragically killed in the line of duty in August 2019 Picture: Thames Valley PolicePC Andrew Harper, who stopped Singh on the A34, was tragically killed in the line of duty in August 2019 Picture: Thames Valley Police (Image: Oxford Mail)

On Friday (September 29), Oxford Crown Court heard that the police constable could smell a heady mixture of cannabis and aftershave as he spoke to driver Singh.

The defendant, who at the time was nearing the end of a suspended jail sentence for drug dealing, was immediately apologetic for his driving.

Asked about the strong smell of cannabis, he told the police officer he was wearing aftershave and appeared to blame his mother for the drug whiff – claiming she smoked cannabis.

Singh had rolls of cash both on him and in the central console of the car, amounting to around £2,500 in notes.

In the car was a holdall containing cocaine and cannabis with a combined street value of more than £6,000.

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There was 93g of cocaine, split across various bags and wraps including in a Heroes chocolate tub, and 115g of class B drugs.

DNA showed that Singh had handled the drugs. Phones seized from the car contained messages pointing to him having begun dealing drugs again within months of him being handed a suspended prison sentence in 2017 for selling cannabis.

Oxford Mail: Rakesh Singh, from Oxford, was jailed for five years for dealing drugs Picture: Thames Valley PoliceRakesh Singh, from Oxford, was jailed for five years for dealing drugs Picture: Thames Valley Police (Image: Thames Valley Police)

Singh, of Elder Way, Oxford, initially pleaded not guilty to possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs, but changed his plea on the day of his trial.

In mitigation, the defendant was said to be a much more mature man than the 22-year-old who was caught by PC Harper in 2019.

At the time, he was making ‘poor decisions’, had the pressure of providing financially for his own family, and was using drugs himself.

He had an offer of a job, starting on Monday, with a boss who was sitting in the public gallery at Friday’s sentencing hearing.

Oxford Mail: Hundreds of mourners lined the streets for PC Andrew Harper's funeral in 2019Hundreds of mourners lined the streets for PC Andrew Harper's funeral in 2019

Handing him five years’ imprisonment, judge Recorder Rachel Drake told Singh: “The suggestion that you were naïve and did not know the consequences of supplying drugs, did not appreciate what you were involved in quite simply fall away once you’ve stood in that dock or another dock in this court.”

She added: “It is not right to say that you had complied with your suspended sentence and kept out of trouble for 23 of the 24 months.

"Your phone indicates you were involved in the supply of drugs six months after the suspended sentence was passed.”

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