Drug dealer Paul Belcher was jailed for 21 months for attacking a bar manager and planning to sell amphetamines so strong "they would blow your head off".

Belcher, 29, of St Nicholas Road, Wallingford, was sentenced when he returned to Oxford Crown Court following his conviction for possessing amphetamine and cannabis with intent to supply to another last month.

He also admitted possessing more amphetamine and cannabis, handling a stolen insurance cover note and causing actual bodily harm to Paul Godsell, who worked at the Berinsfield Arms, Berinsfield, by banging his head on the bar and punching him in August last year, and .

At the trial, Thames Valley Police drugs officer Det Con Paul Norley said the 64 grams of amphetamine, or speed, found at Belcher's home was the most concentrated he had ever seen in the county.

Belcher had claimed the cannabis and speed were for his own personal use, but Mr Norley said the concentration of speed was 72 per cent pure, which he said would "blow your head off".

He said the drugs would probably have been cut down to under ten per cent pure, a normal concentration for sale to a user, and would have been worth £1,000.

David Taylor, defending Belcher, said he had a drugs problem he wanted to cure and said Belcher attacked Mr Godsell because he was angry with him, claiming the bar manager had accused him of passing false £10 notes.

Judge David Morton Jack told Belcher: "This was a large quantity of drugs by any standards and you have a bad criminal record, including previous offences for possessing controlled drugs.

"Assaults on licensees in pubs have to be deterred. Such people are entitled to protection from courts."

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