A DRUG dealer who was seen by a police officer selling heroin in a Worcester street tried to escape on his bike.

But Paul Griffin crashed into a wall and was then pursued on foot and caught.

Seized were four wraps of the drug while another 63 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine were discovered at Griffin’s temporary home in Lowesmoor, Worcester, said Alex Warren, prosecuting.

The total drug haul found on September 9 last year had a street value of £670, Worcester Crown Court was told.

The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of drug possession with intent to supply and was jailed for two years. The sentence will run concurrently with a 20-month jail term he is already serving for robbery of a disabled barman.

Griffin had been caught in the act by an officer on mobile patrol in Westbury Street alongside the canal, said Mr Warren.

It was an area well known for drug dealing due to the absence of CCTV cameras.

The officer recognised four drug users approaching Griffin before the incident.

One user had sent a message to Griffin’s phone asking for drugs and signing himself Jason, Shrub Hill.

The defendant had 39 offences on his record for burglary, shop thefts, assault, threats to cause damage and handling stolen goods.

In December last year he was jailed for robbery after entering a local pub with a female accomplice. She offered a disabled barman with learning difficulties sex for money, which he accepted. But the man was attacked by the pair as they led him through an alleyway to the woman’s house, said Mr Warren. The barman was punched in the face and his money stolen.

Defence counsel Nicholas Berry said Griffin had committed crime to fund his own drug habit, but had undergone significant changes while locked up.

He was drug-free after a detox programme and was now training other prisoners on a window fitting course. He was determined to change his lifestyle on release.

Judge Robert Juckes QC said Griffin had to choose whether to spend the rest of his life in and out of prison or find some other way to live.