A CANNABIS dealer who helped run a ‘franchise’ across West Oxfordshire has admitted his part.

Aaron Brown, of Marlborough Close, Eynsham, was set to stand trial at Oxford Crown Court for being concerned in the supply of Class B drugs .

However at the court yesterday the 25-year-old had a change of heart and admitted the single count of drug dealing.

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Prosecutors at the court said that the Witney drugs operation had been run between May 1 and August 20 last year.

The operation was centred on an address at Apley Way in Witney.

Brown worked to sell the drugs along two with others all involved in the supply of cannabis across the area - and his co-defendants were named in court as Oliver Black and Mark Pidsley.

Those two men have both already admitted their role in the drug dealing operation at earlier hearings.

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Yesterday, once Brown had admitted his role in the gang, prosecutor Jonathan Stone said that Black was ‘at the top’ of the operation.

The business, which he termed a ‘franchise’, saw Pidsley working for Black with Brown working underneath him, who was at the ‘lower end’ of the drug dealing hierarchy.

At the hearing Brown’s defence barrister asked the court for a pre-sentence report in light of the lowly position in the drugs chain.

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The court heard that while Brown admitted his guilt there was still some dispute as to exactly what responsibility he had with dealing the drugs.

Recorder Martin Heslop QC did not order a report and decided to adjourn the case for a later hearing so that all three men can attend and their exact roles in the operation can be determined before sentencing.

Brown was released on bail to re-appear at the same court on April 1.