A drugs courier who ferried heroin and crack cocaine from Merseyside into North Wales has been jailed for 27 months.

Dean Graham, 22, of Foundry Lane in Widnes did not have any previous convictions for drugs offences.

But Mold Crown Court heard how he built up a drugs debt and agreed to ferry the drugs to pay it off.

Police acting on intelligence were keeping an eye out for a black BMW 3 series.

An officer spotted it outside the address of known drug addicts in Old Colwyn in June and back up was called.

The car was seen at a petrol filling station in Abergele Road and police moved in to block off the exits.

When a police car pulled up in front of the car as the driver was paying for fuel, Graham who was in the passenger seat tried to make a run for it, explained prosecuting barrister Karl Scholz.

He was found to have wraps of heroin and crack cocaine with an estimated street value of £1,500.

Two mobile phones were seized and they showed that people had been trying to contact him to arrange meetings.

Mr Scholz said the messages did not disclose what the meetings were about the defendant had now admitted possessing both class A drugs with intent to supply.

Judge Niclas Parry told him that North Wales was blighted by drugs and the dreadful harm they caused.

“People who bring heroin and crack cocaine, the most harmful drugs, into North Wales, will only be stopped if they know that they are going to prison when caught,” he said.

Graham, he said, was clearly travelling around supply drugs and a significant amount had been seized on his arrest.

The people of North Wales looked to the courts to protect them from drugs, he said.

Judge Parry warned that the case had a four and a half year starting point but that the sentence could go up to seven years.

But he would receive credit for his guilty pleas and Judge Parry said that he accepted that the defendant was genuinely remorseful.

Gerald Pachter, defending, said that it was a very sad case.

His client had an awful up-bringing - his father was an alcoholic and his mother a drug addict.

Graham had moved to the London area where he lived with an aunt and he met a young lady who was in court supporting him.

They had moved back up North to make a fresh start but he built up a drugs debt.

He agreed to take drugs into North Wales in order to pay off the debt but was caught by the police.

Mr Pachter asked the court to treat his client as an exceptional case and he suggested a suspended prison sentence.