TWO men who dealt drugs from an Old Town flat have been jailed for a total of 10 years.

Steven Malcolm was sentenced to six years for his role in the set-up while his partner in crime, Richard James, was jailed for four years at Portsmouth Crown Court.

The police say the sentences should be a warning to anyone dealing drugs.

Malcolm, 25, was convicted of possessing £9,000 worth of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply after a five-day trial at Swindon Crown Court in April.

He and James, 23, were in the flat in Little London when it was raided by police dressed in riot gear on February 9 last year.

The Advertiser followed the drugs officers in as they uncovered a blank-firing handgun, electronic scales to weigh drugs and an Aladdin's cave of stolen property.

Alan Fuller, prosecuting, said the haul illustrated that the house was being used to supply the drugs on the streets of the town.

He said the gun was there to frighten people and the stolen property was taken in exchange for drugs.

While James, from Cowley Estate, Brixton, south London, admitted the charges, Malcolm, of Vassell Road, Brixton, south London, denied any wrongdoing.

He insisted he had only been in the property for four minutes to use the toilet, as he said he was looking for his girlfriend in the Old Town area.

Although he did not know her surname, he said she had taken him to the house once before to get a cab home on a night out.

He could not explain, however, how two of his cousins with whom he lived in London had connections to the property.

Malcolm had also telephoned a number of mobile phones in the flat and had also been stopped and searched 10 days before his arrest after he was spotted leaving the address.

He told the jury he had problems with his memory as a result of a coconut falling on his head when he was 12 years old.

Malcolm, who came to the UK from Jamaica in July 2001, said he did not work and was not allowed to get benefits but was supported by his family.

He denied that he was involved in selling heroin and crack cocaine from the house, telling the court "I am not a drugs dealer."

His Honour Judge Graham White said both men had been involved in the commercial activity of selling class A drugs.

He said their punishment should be a deterrent to others.

After the case, PC Rab Macleod, of the Swindon Crime Targeting Team, praised the public for their contribution in catching the pair.

"We welcome the support from the community," he said.

"The information via the Drugs Hotline, no matter how small, always leads to lines of inquiry that we can work on.

"Without the public interest in this we may well have not known about them."

He added: "Obviously we welcome the sentences. It sends out the message that we won't tolerate anybody supplying class A drugs in Swindon.

"We will target them and put them before the courts."