A COCAINE street dealer escaped from police by exaggerating an injury and leapt out of a wheelchair when he was taken to Burnley General Hospital, a court heard.

Owess Khan, 24, of Fifth Avenue, Burnley, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and escape, at Burnley Crown Court. He was jailed for three years.

Mark Lamberty, prosecuting, said in June last year, officers were called to an incident behind Burnley town hall. A car was in the control of a man who was in the driver’s seat and who has since left the county. Khan was near the vehicle and was arrested.

The man in the car had £320 worth of cocaine in £20 deals on him and the defendant had a phone and £170 in cash. The phone was found to have messages about drugs from between May 31 and June 10.

Khan accepted he had been dealing drugs as well. He was bailed and carried on dealing until the middle of August.

Mr Lamberty said Khan was arrested on June 26 this year, interviewed and kept in custody overnight.

He told police he had fallen off a bench and hurt his knee. He was taken in handcuffs to Burnley General Hospital in a wheelchair to be seen by a doctor.

The defendant suddenly sprang from the wheelchair and escaped, knocking over the two officers, who suffered minor injuries. The next day, police went to his girlfriend’s house and Khan was there. He was compliant and said he had run straight home, got a saw from the garden and set about sawing off the handcuffs.

Phllip Holden, for Khan, said: “He accepts at the time, he was in the grip of a cocaine addiction.”

Sentencing, Judge Andrew Woolman said Khan had got himself into bad company. He told him: “Although you did play a significant role in this conspiracy, you weren't by any means the leader of it.”

Khan was locked up for 33 weeks in July for assault.