An alleged drug dealer was sniffed out by a police dog after an off-duty copper saw him selling near a children’s play area, an Oxford jury heard.

Deano Mcloud, 36, denies allegations of possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and possession of £567 in cash made from drug dealing.

Opening the trial at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday, prosecutor Oliver Wellings told jurors that off-duty police officer PC Jonathan Kelly was in Boxhill Park, Abingdon, with his two children on September 1, 2020.

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“He, I anticipate, will tell you he saw two males in a corner of the park close to where there was some free gym equipment and close to a children’s play area,” the prosecutor said.

The officer saw the two men, Deano Mcloud and Mason Thomas, engaged in what he thought was drug dealing.

He was said to have called 999, with on-duty officers arriving in the park a short time later.

The two men saw the officers and made off, Mr Wellings told the jury. One of the two men, Thomas, was caught and later admitted dealing class A drugs.

“The prosecution say [Mcloud] made a more determined effort to evade police,” the prosecutor said.

He allegedly shrugged off his jacket, in which was later found a bank card in his name. He was said to have scattered 26 wraps of crack cocaine, estimated to be worth more than £500, and hid in a patch of woodland where he was eventually found after a police dog was brought in.

The jury was told that Mcloud was expected to accept possession of the drugs, but claimed he had bought the wraps for his personal use.

The £567 cash, he is anticipated to say, was the proceeds of a car sale and not dirty money from dealing drugs.

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Mr Wellings said: “The Crown’s case is he was a dealer and the cash was his float – his proceeds. [His] case; there is an innocent explanation for the cash and he wasn’t dealing but buying drugs.

“It is the prosecution that brings the case and therefore the prosecution that bears the burden of proving it.

“That means proving it so you are sure of the defendant’s guilt before you can properly convict.”

Mcloud, of Shelley Close, Abingdon, denies possession with intent to supply class A drugs and possession of criminal property. The trial continues.

The defendant is represented by Lyall Thompson. Judge Ian Pringle QC, who as resident judge holds the honorary title of Recorder of Oxford, is presiding over the trial.

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