A DRUG dealer who was caught with £600 of heroin and crack cocaine has been jailed for nearly six years.

Eugene Brogan was caught red-handed by police, who spotted the 59-year-old dealing drugs on a street in Bewsey.

Liverpool Crown Court heard last week that officers were on patrol on Trafford Avenue at around midday on December 5 when they saw the defendant leaving his house.

He walked along the road and ‘appeared to be looking for someone’, before an exchange took place with another man.

Brogan was arrested, and a bag of drugs containing 36 wraps of heroin and 34 packages of crack cocaine – with a street value of around £10 each – was discovered down the side of his sofa when his home was searched.

A total of £110 in cash was also seized.

Defence barrister Jemma Gordon told the court on Friday, February 21, that her client was a drug addict who had been selling the illicit substances in order to fund his own habit.

Brogan, who appeared via video link to HMP Altcourse, admitted possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply during an earlier hearing.

He has twice previously been convicted of trafficking class A drugs, being jailed for five years at Warrington Crown Court in 2008 for the same offences and receiving 45 months behind bars at Manchester Crown Court in 1999 for conspiracy to supply heroin.

His ‘third strike’ resulted in a mandatory minimum jail terms of seven years, reduced by 20 per cent to 2,045 days due to his guilty plea.

Brogan has a ‘long criminal record’ in addition to his drug dealing convictions, mainly for offences of dishonesty.

Sentencing, judge Thomas Teague said: “This is a very sad day for you – you were caught dealing drugs, and the police recovered £600 worth of crack cocaine and heroin from your address.

“You’ve got a lot of previous convictions, this is somebody who has probably been stealing to fund an addiction.

“You have struggled all your life with addiction.

“Your previous convictions make your position serious.

“This is your third conviction for class A drug trafficking, and you are subject to the minimum term of seven years imprisonment.

“You are adopting a positive attitude to your time in custody, and there is no reason at all to go a day beyond the statutory minimum sentence.

“I will give you as much credit as possible.”

Judge Teague also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.