A teenager who claimed he’d happened upon the £500-worth of crack cocaine and heroin found in his sock when he stopped by a bench to tie his shoelaces has been convicted of drug dealing.

Rayon Saunders, now 19, told jurors at Oxford Crown Court that he’d travelled from his native Wolverhampton by train on July 14, 2019, to see two girls he’d met on Snapchat.

Having planned to meet the young women at McDonald’s in Cornmarket Street, the then 16-year-old stopped outside the fast food restaurant to tie his shoelaces.

He claimed to have spotted a small bag beneath a bench as he squatted to do fix his shoes.

Thinking it might be cannabis he stashed it in his sock. Asked why he had put the drugs into his sock, Saunders replied: “Where else am I going to put it?” He clarified: “It was too big to put inside my pocket and a sock was safer when I’m walking.”

Plain clothes officer PC Jordan McClay said his attention was drawn to Saunders and his friends as they were wearing heavy winter clothing. “I especially remember it being quite a hot day and their clothing was out of the ordinary.”

The drugs found on Rayon Saunders Picture: CPS

The drugs found on Rayon Saunders Picture: CPS

When they caught up with the group they were ‘20 metres’ onto Cornmarket Street from the corner of George Street. There were known drug addicts nearby, the officer said.

Saunders was taken to the police station and found to have 50 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine in his sock and another wrap elsewhere on his person.

Closing the defence case to the jury, Ragveer Chand told the panel that ‘real life is stranger than fiction’.

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He reminded them that the drugs expert said there was ‘no evidence in this case that Mr Saunders was dealing drugs on behalf of somebody else’ nor was there evidence from his phone or at his flat that he was running his own drugs operation.

Prosecutor Anne-Marie Critchley told the jury the case concerned what he intended to do with the drugs found on him.

“You’re not being asked to be mind readers but you are being asked to use your common sense and you can infer from the circumstances what his intention was going to be,” she said.

“He has got a large quantity ready for sale in public. Common sense dictates, doesn’t it, that they were to be supplied, most likely for money, to various customers who would approach him knowing that’s where to find people selling drugs.”

Saunders, of no fixed address, was convicted of possession with intent to supply class A drugs yesterday after a two day trial. He is currently serving a prison sentence for supplying drugs in 2020.

Judge Maria Lamb remanded him in custody and will sentence him later today.