A YOUNG drugs dealer, who started pushing heavy drugs at the age of 16, has been jailed for six years

Devere Edward Knight, 21, from Wrexham, tried to flush heroin and cocaine worth more than £700 down the toilet when police entered his home.

At Mold Crown Court, the Recorder Patrick Harrington QC, demanded an urgent explanation from the police why Knight had been bailed when arrested in April last year.

“Whose bright idea was that?” he asked, when told Knight had not answered his bail and was not arrested until March.

Knight had convictions for dealing hard drugs going back to when he was 16, he said, and potentially faced a minimum seven-year sentence because of his previous convictions.

The court heard Knight did not use drugs himself but he had got back to drugs dealing because of debts.

“You are only 21 years of age and you have a dreadful record for drugs supply,” the judge told him.

He had received a two-year sentence at the age of 16 for supplying drugs but that had done him no good whatsoever.

Within months of his release he was at it again and he had received a three year sentence when he was 18.

The judge was told Knight’s mother was a drug addict and she left the family home when Knight was young.

“That should have given you a fair clue of the harm that drugs cause in the community,” the judge said. But Knight was intent on supplying drugs as a way of getting himself out of financial problems.

Elizabeth Bell, prosecuting, said police executed a search warrant at Knight’s home in Gwenfro.

“They saw him speaking to a woman inside. He ran upstairs and leaned out of the window before running to the toilet and trying to flush away some drugs.

An officer was able to retrieve 12 packages of heroin containing 3.16 grammes with a street value of £316 and 39 wraps of cocaine, a total of 4.16 grammes, with a street value of £416.

When arrested he told officers: “It is your word against mine.”

He was bailed but failed to attend court, and when arrested on March 27 he told police how he had turned his life around, had put it all behind him and was working.

Kate Morley, defending, said Knight’s mother had left the family of five children when he was young and he had been passed from pillar to post.

He did not receive a traditional education, he disliked school and got in with the wrong people.

Knight became involved in drug dealing at a young age but had made a concerted effort to change and had been running his own car valeting business but got into debt.

He  took out a loan but the repayments were huge and unrealistic and when he and his family received threats he was put under pressure to deal drugs once more.

“He is motivated to change his life,” Miss Morley said.