A drug dealer has been jailed for almost six-and-a-half years after jurors found him guilty of selling crack cocaine to an undercover police officer.

Kenneth Cox, 45, had denied supplying crack cocaine to an undercover officer on three dates in November 2019.

But Swindon jurors delivered a majority guilty verdict yesterday afternoon after deliberating for more than three hours.

Recovering crack addict Cox, who in 2013 received a suspended sentence for being concerned in supplying cocaine, was caught up in a large-scale undercover police operation last year that saw plain clothes officers pose as addicts in order to make test purchases from County Lines drug gangs and local dealers.

During the trial, jurors heard that an undercover officer named in court as Dylan had been approached by an addict, “Sophie”, in Swindon on the evening of November 5. He asked her for a telephone number from which he could order drugs. She took his phone, punched in a number and called it before taking him to an alleyway off Broad Street.

Dylan was rung back by the dealer and an old Nissan Almera with a roof rack pulled up. Cox was said to have walked along the pavement with the officer, confirming the order and price. Dylan asked if he could call him back. He thought the dealer looked like he was in his 40s.

The next day, November 6, Dylan called up the drugs line number – given the nickname “Ken” by police. The officer started the conversation by asking “Ken?” which went uncorrected by the man who answered the phone.

The officer was directed to Broad Street, where he was met by the Nissan Almera and told to get in the car. A woman was sat in the front passenger seat while a man – said by the Crown to be Cox – was driving the vehicle.

Dylan was in the middle of the back row of seats, with a view of the driver’s side profile. He revised his earlier estimate of the man’s age, now believing him to be in his 30s. The officer bought crack cocaine.

On November 7, Dylan received a text message from the “Ken” drugs line phone saying simply “online” – slang used by dealers to indicate they have drugs to sell. He called the line around an hour later and the same man answered as before.

The officer was directed to a taxi rank on Manchester Road. The Nissan pulled up with the same man driving as before. There was another man, nicknamed “Church” but whose real name was Craig Murray, in the back of the car.

He paid £20 but, when he was only given two wraps of drugs, queried the deal and was handed £5 back by a woman sat in the front passenger seat.

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Swindon Crown Court

Cox denied being the man who had sold Dylan drugs, suggesting it could be a friend, who occasionally borrowed the Nissan in exchange for crack cocaine.

He claimed that the woman in the car the man’s girlfriend. However, called as a prosecution witness, she denied being the woman in the car – saying it was a woman called April, who she described as Cox’s “missus”.

She claimed she knew Cox as she used to buy class A drugs from him. She also knew Craig Murray, the man in the back of the Nissan on November 7, as her mother had informally adopted him when he was in his late teens.

Put in the witness box, Cox admitted he had been addicted to crack cocaine last year and at the height of his addiction was using the drug everyday. He had last smoked crack in June 2020.

During his police interview he had opted to go no comment after taking legal advice, although he had started the interview by saying “it wasn’t me”.

Cox, of Urchfont Way, Penhill, had a previous conviction for being concerned in the supply of cocaine. Police found a drugs press and cutting agents in his garage in 2012, which he was storing for his brothers who were more heavily-involved in the supply of cocaine.

After the jury found Cox guilty on Tuesday, Judge Jason Taylor QC sentenced Cox to six years and five months’ imprisonment.

The Crown was represented by Jacinta Stringer, while George Threlfall appeared for the defence.