A LONDONER accused of dealing heroin and crack cocaine in Swindon claimed he was in town having been told “Swindon girls like black lads from London”.

Perry Kyei-Ntiamoah is accused of dealing the class A drugs in the Wiltshire town in mid-2017 with friend William Gentry.

The pair were stopped in June of that year driving along the M4. Inside the VW Golf, which was registered in Kyei-Ntiamoah’s name, was £2,500 cash, a kitchen knife and a Blackberry mobile phone containing incriminating drug deals.

The pair deny being concerned in the supply of class A drugs. The trial at Swindon Crown Court continues.

Prosecutors claim the men were working for a County Line variously branded “G” and “Gee” in bulk texts sent out to potential clients and boasting of the “10/10” quality of the line’s heroin and crack cocaine.

The Blackberry phone found in the VW’s glove compartment and on which was found Gentry’s DNA was the device used to send the bulk texts, said to have been sent after Kyei-Ntiamoah and Gentry reached Swindon from London.

The Crown claimed phone evidence showed the two men travelling between the capital and Wiltshire with the G line deal phone. Traffic cameras snapped the Golf as it turned off the M4 and into Swindon.

Mark Worsley, prosecuting, told jurors: “These two young men – one with previous convictions for class A drug dealing – are caught red-handed on June 8 not with the drugs but the means to profit from selling drugs: the phone and the takings, the till essentially in their pockets notionally speaking.

“There have been bare denials: ‘I just didn’t do it’, ‘that’s not what it’s for’, ‘I don’t deal drugs’ and poor memory.

“These are not sufficient to address what I suggest is a compelling prosecution case.”

Andrew Selby, for 23-year-old Kyei-Ntiamoah, described his client as an “innocent dupe”, adding there was no direct evidence that his client knew anybody was concerned in the supply of drugs.

He pointed the finger at co-accused Gentry, reminding jurors he had two previous drug convictions on his record and already had friends in Swindon.

Kyei-Ntiamoah had split with girlfriend and had travelled to Swindon in 2017 after Gentry told him “girls in Swindon liked black boys from London” and had met a girl he liked. £1,375 cash found in the steering column had been left there by Kyei-Ntiamoah for safekeeping. The second-hand car salesman planned to buy a vehicle in Swindon.

Peter Pride, for Gentry, said his client denied involvement in the G line. He acknowledged Gentry had previous matters on his record, which dated back to when he was 16 and 17 but was a changed man by 2017 – when he was 19-years-old.

The youngster, now 21, had travelled to Swindon regularly to visit his girlfriend and friends in the town. £1,120 cash found in his rucksack in the Golf was the proceeds of a weekend job power washing lorries. He had planned to use the money to buy his girlfriend jewellery.

Gentry, of Hackney, and Kyei-Ntiamoah, of Braintree, Essex, deny being concerned in the supply of cocaine and heroin.

The Swindon jury is expected to retire this afternoon.