A TRIO who sold diamorphine and crack cocaine from a property in Netherton have been jailed for a total of nine years.

Derek Ricketts rented the flat in Withymoor Road and other people attended to sell class A drugs which were cut and put into wraps.

When police officers raided the flat they found Ricketts, Umesh Patel and Matthew Brown on the premises together with around £1,800 worth of controlled drugs.

Ricketts aged 32, Patel, 30, of Whitley Close, Lower Gornal and 33-year-old Brown, of Emery Street, Walsall, all admitted possessing drugs with intent to supply.

Brown further admitted possessing a small amount of cannabis for his personal use and he was jailed for 32 months by Judge John Wait who said it was accepted he was dealing to repay a loan.

The judge jailed Ricketts, a father-of-one whose partner is pregnant, for a total of 40 months and said he had not only been dealing to fund his own drug habit because £600 in cash was found by police in a bedroom.

Patel who, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told, had a previous conviction for drug dealing, was sent to prison for 36 months by the judge who said it was clear he had been selling again from the flat.

The judge told the men: "You are all old enough to understand those involved in the supply of class A drugs are spreading the misery of drug addiction."

Benjamin Close, prosecuting, said the kitchen area of the flat was used to divide up the drugs and that was where police found razor blades, scales, cling films and cigarette papers.

The officers also recovered two mobile telephones and they contained a number of messages from people wanting to buy class A drugs.

Ricketts was jailed for 40 months for the offences before the court with the judge ruling he must serve a further two months for breaching a 10 week prison sentence suspended for two years for possessing class A drugs.