A DRUG dealer tried to dispose of blocks of cocaine by tossing them onto a house roof as police raided the property.

Israr Ahmed was using the loft bedroom of Lois Dutton's Castle Street, Bolton, home to repackage £10,000 of the high purity drug to pass on to other dealers.

Bolton Crown Court heard that Dutton, a mother-of-three, had only moved into the property that morning and thought 33-year-old Ahmed was packaging cannabis.

Amanda Johnson, prosecuting, told how police raided the house at 4.50pm and went upstairs to the loft.

"Mr Ahmed was standing below the skylight in the process of pulling off a pair of blue disposable gloves," she said.

"There was white powder over the carpet along with blocks of the drug.

"The loft window was open and more blocks of it were out on the roof. He had been discarding them out of the skylight, no doubt when he realised the police had attended."

At the time of his arrest Ahmed, of Hilden Street, Bolton, was on bail following his involvement in a fight in the Castle Street area in May 2018 in which a man was shot.

Ahmed was part of a large group of men encouraging the fighting and pleaded guilty to affray.

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He also admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

William Donnelly, defending Ahmed, stressed that he was not part of an organised crime gang but had "foolishly" involved himself with drugs on this occasion.

Recorder Simon Killeen sentenced him to three years and six months in prison, telling him: "The purity of the drug is such that it is pretty obvious this was not going to be sold at street level, but was going to be sold to other dealers and it would be cut much further making more misery for those taking it."

Dutton, aged 27, admitted being concerned in the supply of drugs and was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 12 months. She will be electronically tagged and subject to a 9pm to 7am curfew for two months and must participate in 10 days of rehabilitation activities.

Recorder Killeen told her: "There you were, moving into new premises with your three children who were there while cocaine was being bagged up — it is quite shocking."