A PAIR of drug dealers caught plying their wares to addicts at an Oxford canal have been jailed.

Mitchell Bayliss, 23, of Burnaby Road, Coventry, and Jamie Quinn, 23, of no fixed abode, were both on trial at Oxford Crown Court this week.

They had denied two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs - cocaine and heroin.

After eight hours and eight minutes of deliberations jurors found them guilty of those counts yesterday.

Quinn was cleared of a further count of possessing criminal property by having £310 in cash, which prosecutors claimed was the proceeds of crime.

READ AGAIN: A report from the opening of the case.

During the trial jurors were told that two plain clothed police officers first spotted the two men on the afternoon of May 1.

They were at the canal close to Oxford rail station and the Isis Lock.

As soon as the officers said they were with the police one of the men - Bayliss - ran off along the towpath.

In that chase Bayliss 'threw a bag into the canal' and it was later revealed to contain about £1,000 worth of drugs.

The court heard the pair were in Oxford as part of a 'county lines' operation and inside the seized bag 74 wraps of cocaine and 25 of heroin were found.

Despite the bag being thrown into the canal it quickly floated up and a boater used a bamboo stick to help 'fish out' the package for officers.

After the verdicts had been handed down presiding Judge Nigel Daly proceeded directly to sentence.

Both men were jailed for a total of four years and six months each on all counts to run concurrently.