A pair caught dealing hard drugs in Bicester last year have been jailed.

Markile Ellis-Brown, 21, was found with heroin and crack cocaine in the town on March 1.

His co-defendant Rhys Bowden, 20, who was last year jailed for similar offending, had a mobile phone used to arrange drug pick-ups and drop-offs.

First time offender Ellis-Brown received two years’ imprisonment when the young men’s cases came before Oxford Crown Court this week for sentence.

READ MORE: Scales of Justice - Results from Oxford Magistrates' Court 

Judge Maria Lamb told Ellis-Brown, of Manston Close, Bicester, who had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possession with intent to supply heroin and crack as well as simple possession of ecstasy: “The appropriate punishment for dealing in class A drugs can only be achieved by immediate custody.”

His co-accused, Bowden, now of HMP Bullingdon, received eight months’ imprisonment for being concerned in the supply of class A drugs, although the sentence will be served at the conclusion of the two year jail sentence imposed last October.

Previously, the court has heard how Bowden became involved in the drugs trade at an early age – enticed into it by more sophisticated older dealers.

He had been enticed into drug dealing as a 14-year-old schoolboy and told the judge in a letter that the only thing he had gained from selling drugs was a ‘guilty conscience and a bad reputation’.

Sentencing him on Monday (January 16), Judge Lamb said she would ‘not hold it against’ Bowden that she was not aware of his arrest in March 2022 when she sentenced him in October.

Defending, Matthew Walsh said that Bowden had thought the sentencing hearing on October 31 last year was ‘comprehensive and he understood that was drawing a line in the sand’.

“Everything he said to your honour about his intentions and his remorse on that occasion was entirely genuine,” he added.

Bowden was initially ‘mortified’ to learn that he faced further charges, before resolving to following his earlier example and plead guilty at the magistrates’ court.

The judge was told that he had been doing well in custody, completing qualifications allowing him to work on construction sites on his release. Mr Walsh said: “His time has been used very successfully in planning his future.”

Judge Lamb told Bowden: “I have read your letter, I have seen the positive steps you have taken while in prison. You are making progress and have plans for the future.”

She said she would not be activating an earlier short suspended sentence, imposed for having a knife, as it was ‘not in the interests of justice here and I recognise the progress you have made’.

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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