A DRUG dealer who was caught peddling heroin next to a secondary school has been jailed.

Mark Wray, from Haydon Wick, and Ricardo Anderson were spotted by police in The Donkey Field by Sheldon School in Chippenham in the summer of 2014.

And when officers went in to the woods they found a sock loaded with wraps of the drugs hidden in the branches of a tree.

Tim Hills, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how drug officers saw a known user going into the forest area on Tuesday July 8, 2014, and leave shortly after.

He said they went in and found 38-year-old Wray and Anderson, 24, along with a third man who was not proceeded against.

A drug dog was brought in and it sniffed out a sock hidden in the limbs of a tree which contained 4.8 grams of heroin in £10 street deals worth £720.

Anderson's DNA was found on the sock and his mobile phone was also shown to have links to Wray, whose Land Rover Discovery was found nearby.

Wray, of Graythwaite Close, Swindon, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin but was convicted following a trial. Anderson, of Birmingham, admitted the offence.

Leanne Woodman, for Wray, said that at the time of the offending her client was working as a courier.

She said the father of seven has been trying to find another job, having applied to the Royal Mail and other employers, and is now on a university course.

He also has a partner, with whom he has three children under the age of four, and she is currently on maternity leave, she said.

Although his leave to remain in the country has been revoked she said he suffers post traumatic stress disorder as a result of things in his past.

Richard Hull, for Anderson, said his client was jailed in the Midlands last year for a similar set of offences and served a 20 month sentence.

He urged the court to consider what the total jail term would have been had he been sentenced for both matters at the same time.

Jailing them Judge Tim Mousley QC said "What was going on in the woods in Chippenham that day amounts to street dealing, and you were both concerned in the supply of drugs at that level.

"You Anderson, have convictions in the Midlands. I am satisfied in this case that your part in this was to bring bringing drugs to the Wiltshire and Bristol areas.

"So far as you are concerned Mark Wray you were the man with the local knowledge. Each one of you played an important role in the distribution of class A drugs and each one of you was motivated by financial gain.

"Each one of you played a significant part in this distribution of heroin."

He jailed Wray for three years and Anderson for 28 months. As a result of the sentence Wray now faces the prospect of deportation when he is released.