AN ALLEGED drug dealer was caught after officers found crack and heroin stashed between his buttocks, a court has heard.

A jury was told yesterday that after the class A drugs were found James Howkins admitted having the illegal substances but only for 'personal use.'

Prosecutors maintain that he had the drugs - along with a so-called 'burner phone' and drugs paraphernalia - as part of a drug-dealing operation.

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Howkins denies two counts alleging the possession with intent to supply of class A drugs - crack cocaine and heroin.

The 36-year-old of Great Clarendon Street, Oxford began his trial at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

Outlining the case to the jury prosecutor Giles Morrison said that police officers were on patrol in Oxford on May 17 this year.

He told jurors that officers first noticed Howkins sitting in the passenger seat of a Proton vehicle.

Another person was driving the vehicle which was travelling along Beaumont Street, before it moved on to Walton Street.

After parking the driver then left to go to a nearby Co Op shop and officers, who had been watching from nearby, then approached the vehicle.

Mr Morrison said that police detained Morrison who was inside and that when he was to be searched 'he admitted quite frankly that he had class A drugs between his bottom cheeks.'

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Howkins was arrested and also found to have two mobile phones on his person; one was a smart phone and the other was described as a 'burner phone.'

Speaking of that phone Mr Morrison said: "They are often carried by drug dealers because they are cheap and you can chuck them away, they only cost about £10 and they are basic."

He went on to tell jurors that the phone was repeatedly ringing.

The court heard that Howkins was found to have quantities of crack cocaine and heroin as well as a set of keys to an address in Jericho.

On searching those premises investigators found a set of digital scales and cling film.

The drugs that were found on Howkins, following a strip search at Abingdon Police Station, amounted to 4.57g of crack cocaine and 1.18g of heroin.

Asked about the so-called 'burner' phone he told officers that he had 'borrowed it from someone else.'

It was also said that Howkins quickly admitted to possession of the drugs but only for his own 'personal use.'

Mr Morrison, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "The issue is did he have them for his personal use which he accepts and for which he will ultimately have to be sentenced for.

"Or was there an intention to supply them on to another or others?"

Howkins denies the two counts and the trial continues.