A drug dealer who told his crack-running co-worker they’d serve 18 months inside has been jailed - for four-and-a-half years.

Nathan Madsen, 22, was spotted with a known drug addict in a Banbury graveyard at around 11.30am on September 2 last year.

Police officers tailed him back to a flat in Christchurch Court, which they suspected had been taken over by out-of-town dealers.

They swooped later that day – arresting Madsen and fellow dealer Charlie Winwood, with whom he’d walked out the flat.

Madsen tried to throw a package of drugs over the police car then, as they were arrested, told the other man: “We’re going to prison, lad. We’ll get three years and do one-and-a-half.”

Jailing him for four-and-a-half years, Judge Ian Pringle QC said of Madsen’s misplaced attempt at perspicacity: “Well, you were wrong about that.”

The drugs were later analysed by police experts. In total, the 17.8g of crack cocaine was estimated to have a street value of £1,860.

This week, Oxford Crown Court heard that Madsen had been arrested a year earlier during a raid on a house in Queen’s Way, Whitchurch, Shropshire, on October 8, 2020.

The police found the man with at least two fingers inside his own bottom and came to the conclusion he’d been packing drugs inside.

At the police station, he was strip searched twice but refused a request for an ‘intimate’ search.

Nathan Madsens police mug shot Picture: TVP

Nathan Madsen's police mug shot Picture: TVP

He was later remanded into prison, where gaolers were able to use a body scan to check him for smuggled packages. They saw six packages in his ‘bowel area’, prosecutor Radha Baan said.

In total, he had 394 wraps of heroin and 322 wraps of crack cocaine. On the street, the drugs would have been worth around £7,300 – but their value in prison was estimated to be ‘at least £35,000’.

The court was told he had been working for an out-of-town drugs line known as the ‘JJ line’. Judge Pringle described him as a ‘trusted dealer’ for the gang.

Madsen, of Clarence Road, Birmingham, but originally from Liverpool, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A drugs, possession of criminal property and possession with intent to supply class A drugs. He had five convictions for 11 offences, including dealing cannabis in 2018.

His barrister, Callum Ross, said Madsen had been a drug user himself – selling the substances ‘to some degree’ to fund his own habit. “A period of abstaining in prison is no doubt doing him the world of good.”

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on news@nqo.com or 01865 425 445.