A dealer caught flushing drugs down the toilet has been given another 10 months in jail.

Ricoh Massengo, 31, will serve the prison time on top of a 40 month sentence he received last year for dealing heroin and crack cocaine.

His barrister, Peter du Feu, said the case – which dated back to April 2019 – could have been dealt with more swiftly.

Messages on his client’s phone advertising drugs for sale had been analysed six months before the coronavirus pandemic struck, although Massengo was not charged until 2021.

“We’ve seen it time and time again. It is simply resourcing,” he said of the delay – adding that he was not criticising the police.

His comments about the delay were noted by Judge Tom Rochford. Imposing 10 months’ imprisonment, he said: “It is not your fault that this matter has come to court so slowly.

“Various events have caused that but none of that is your fault and I suspect you would have preferred if this matter was dealt with back in November 2020 when you came before the court for further drug dealing on September 15.

“The exercise I have to do today is ask myself how much longer would the sentence have been had the judge on that occasion been dealing with you for all these matters.

“This was in my judgement reasonably sophisticated street level supply. It was no doubt being done under the control and guidance of those higher up.”

The court heard police had raided a flat in Tower Centre, Carterton, on April 17, 2019, after concerns were raised about the occupant’s welfare.

Officers heard a flushing sound and opened the door to the bathroom to find Massengo holding a piece of plastic wrap containing herbal cannabis.

Elsewhere in the flat they found 16 wraps of heroin, £400 in cash, a number of mobile phones and a small amount of crack cocaine.

On the phones were classic drug dealing messages, including advertisements to customers that the dealer line was ‘back on’.

Massengo, who was released under investigation after his arrest in April 2019, was said to have six convictions for 13 offences.

They included convictions for dealing drugs in autumn last year, although there was nothing to suggest the judge sentencing him for that in November knew of the 2019 charges.

Mr du Feu said his client had done well in prison, completing a number of courses and had hopes of being sent to an open prison so he could start a programme with Network Rail – in the expectation of an apprenticeship on the railways.

Massengo, who appeared in court via video link from HMP Ranby, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine and possession of cannabis.

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