A drug dealer who spent more than a year on the run after being caught with a haul of street heroin and cocaine in Norwich has finally been jailed.
Leroy Johnson - who has 15 previous convictions - was released on bail after he was arrested when police raided a property on Peterkin Road, in the Tuckswood area of the city in September 2018.
While on bail, he was arrested at least twice in London.
On one occasion, he was caught lobbing drugs and mobile phones to prisoners inside Brixton jail. For this, he received a suspended sentence.
He was later arrested in the capital with drugs and a knife.
The 48-year-old then failed to turn up for a Norwich court hearing in February 2022 relating to the Tuckswood raid and evaded police for 13 months. He was finally arrested in March.
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At a hearing yesterday, Norwich Crown Court was told that at the time of Johnson's Tuckswood arrest, in September 2018, police also discovered mobile phones which contained evidence of widespread drug dealing and a large amount of cash.
Johnson, originally from Hackney in London, initially denied being involved in dealing.
However he later pleaded guilty to four counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs between June and September 2018.
Prosecutor John Morgans told the court Johnson had been discovered with 194 prepared street dealing wraps containing diamorphine, a narcotic analgesic used as illicit street heroin, and 49 of crack cocaine.
Dudley Beal, mitigating, said Johnson was glad he had been caught in 2018 as his own drug addiction meant he feared he might have suffered an overdose.
But Mr Morgans said Johnson's offending was “significantly aggravated by his previous offending” with 15 past convictions for 34 offences including robberies and previous prison sentences for dealing class A drugs.
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Jailing him for seven years Judge Anthony Bate said he had played a “significant role” in an operation to supply drugs on Norwich streets.
He said Johnson was subject to the “three strikes” rule where convicted drug dealers receive a statutory mandatory seven-year sentence for a second trafficking offence.
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