The drug dealer said to have supplied cocaine to the stepson of Keith Green during the fatal minutes he was stabbed to death has been jailed.
Prosecutors said that Callum Johnson, who last week was cleared of involvement in the murder of 40-year-old Mr Green, had left the house to buy powder from dealer Mark Corner at the time Mark Meadows and Travis Gorton stabbed him in Banbury on the night of February 13.
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On Tuesday, Corner himself was at Oxford Crown Court, having pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine and ecstasy, simple possession of heroin, crack cocaine and cannabis, and possession of a designer watch and jumpers acquired as a result of his crimes.
The court heard that police raided the dealer’s home in Bodicote, Banbury, on the afternoon of October 6. Having entered through his back door, officers found Corner trying to escape out the front. He was detained.
Inside the kitchen, the raiding officers found cocaine packaged into street deals, an iPhone, cash, scales and designer jumpers.
A locked safe disgorged further treasures: a bag of more than 1,000 pills of MDMA – or ecstasy – and 106g of cocaine.
Corner also had a gold Cartier watch, valued by auctioneers at £8,000-£10,000. He had £3,720 in cash.
Prosecuting, Cathy Olliver said the total street value of the drugs had been put at £26,900.
Police had analysed his phone but were unable to uncover longer-term evidence of his drug dealing business as Corner was said to have been using heavily-encrypted app Signal.
Corner, of Oxford Road, Banbury, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at the crown court to possession with intent to supply class A drugs, possession of criminal property and possession of class A and B drugs.
He had 40 previous convictions, ‘almost all’ for acquisitive crimes like theft.
Mitigating, Eiran Reilly told the court that his client had not entered a plea at the magistrates’ court, where he was ‘all over the place’ as a result of withdrawing from the hard drugs to which he was addicted.
After his release from his last prison sentence, Corner was said to have started working legitimately, including for Amazon and food delivery company Hello Fresh. He then ‘had a wobble, lockdown came along’ and he started using drugs again.
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Mr Reilly said: “He realises he’s made a huge mistake with his life. He wants to move on.”
The barrister added: “He’s not going to be doing this again.”
Jailing him for four years and two months, Judge Ian Pringle KC said: “These are substantial amounts of drugs here - £26,000-worth of drugs - and a lot of cash; all the trappings of a major or quite significant operation.”
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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward
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