Jail for drug dealer

A HEROIN dealer who was recently cleared of an Ipswich gang rape has been jailed for four and a half years.

Ruben Nwandu admitted he intended to sell the £1,200 (24 grams) of heroin discovered on him by police in Ipswich.

The 25-year-old also pleaded guilty to possessing £240 (2.41 grams) of crack cocaine. More than £1,400 in cash was also found on him.

Ipswich Crown Court where Nwandu was recently cleared of raping a 15-year-old girl along with others, heard he also had to be sentenced for other drugs offences.

Rupert Overbury, prosecuting, said that in April last year a traffic warden in a town near North Walsham saw two men inhaling smoke through a plastic bottle. He and a special constable chased one of the men, Nwandu, but failed to catch him. However, holiday maker James Godfrey, 25, from Sheffield, realised Nwandu was wanted by police and fled after him.

He saw Nwandu, of Jay Gardens, Norwich, drop a "small pouch" before he managed to catch up and restrain him until the police arrived. In the pouch was £810 (6.48 grams) of crack cocaine and a small amount of cannabis.

Judge John Holt said: "I have now seen Mr Nwandu and he is a physically large person. Mr Godfrey showed bravery and was successful when the defendant would have otherwise got away. He should have an award in the sum of £250."

Judge Holt also had to sentence Nwandu for breaching a curfew order imposed for using someone else's train ticket, for obtaining a television by deception and for breaching a conditional discharge imposed for possessing cannabis.

Ronald Jaffa, mitigating, said Nwandu was an intelligent man who had passed A levels but who had turned to drugs after his father died and he had argued with his brother.

The court heard that when Nwandu was caught dealing heroin last October, he had a "serious addiction to heroin and cocaine".

Judge Holt sentenced Nwandu, who has previous convictions for drugs and dishonesty, to a total of four and a half years in prison.