A DRUG dealer who boasted about being “the boss” has been locked up after a series of blundering errors led to his arrest.
Scott Warner was forced to admit he actually held the mobile phones running the “Pikey” drug line, rather than being its top dog, when he appeared before a judge.
The 34-year-old was found in bed snoozing next to the drug line’s main telephone when police officers raided an address in Beach Road, Clacton.
It followed detectives tracking a number of devices advertising the sale of crack cocaine and heroin, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
Mitchell Cohen, prosecuting, said Warner ordered a new sim card on May 5 for a phone which had been left by another drug dealer following their arrest.
“As early as May 7, the sim replacement was completed and the supply of Class A drugs continued from that telephone,” said the prosecutor.
“He sent a bulk of messages advertising drugs to 81 recipients. Effectively, the line was back on.”
The court heard when officers raided the property where Warner was based, they found three mobile phones associated with the “Pikey” line.
In several messages marketing the line’s illicit goods, Warner signed off messages using his first name.
He also bragged in a text: “I am the boss. It’s my line, I don’t work for no-one, never will lol.”
Recorder Edward Renvoize said: “You were, in fact, not the boss of the line.”
Warner, of London Road, Clacton, admitted being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin.
Donal Lawler, mitigating, said Warner’s personal use of cocaine had led to him struggling to hold down a job.
Mr Lawler added his reliance on Class A drugs had become a “regular problem”.
Condemning him to three years and nine months behind bars, Mr Renvoize said: “It is quite clear to me this was a profitable exercise.
“You were a trusted individual who was holding the lines and doing his best to ensure the business was successful.”
He continued: “The supply of Class A drugs is a modern scourge on society.
“It breeds violence by those desperate to protect their business.”
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