A TEENAGE drug dealer who was in possession of a loaded revolver that was prone to misfiring has been jailed.

Devante Sluwar was found with £200 worth of heroin and crack cocaine when police officers swooped on a block of garages in the Penn Fields area of Wolverhampton.

Christopher O'Gorman, prosecuting, said officers went to the garages after receiving reports that a man had been spotted with a gun in the area.

They found the 19-year-old, of Hillside Road, Wrens Nest, with another young man but when they were searched no weapon or ammunition was discovered, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

It wasn’t until the officers looked inside a bag being carried by Sluwar, that they discovered the loaded handgun and saw that the firing hammer was in a cocked position, added Mr O'Gorman.

He said a firearms expert had checked the weapon and found there were two rounds of ammunition in the chamber - one live and the other used.

The expert also found a loose bullet in the bag and said the illegal rounds of ammunition had been designed to explode on impact.

The revolver had been converted from a .22 rifle but the alterations had not been a complete success and it meant the weapon was prone to misfiring, said Mr O'Gorman.

Sluwar admitted possessing a revolver and ammunition designed to explode on impact and two charges of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.

"The amount of drugs was not large but you must have been involved in street dealing for which the firearm and ammunition provided a useful back-up," Judge Nicholas Webb told Sluwar as he sentenced him to six-and-a-half years in a young offenders institution.

He said it was clear the teen, whose previous convictions included two robberies, was fast getting involved in "serious crime".