TWO drug dealers who flooded St Ann's streets with heroin and crack cocaine have been jailed.
The pair were caught along with two other men and a woman during a surveillance operation by Operation Vanguard detectives in 2011.
They were seen supplying heroin and crack cocaine to customers in St Ann's.
Inquiries led detectives to Stephen Beard, 34, and Sarah Rolley, 33, whose home in Warton Avenue was being used as a "safe house" for those involved in the dealing. The dealers were using a cut-through from a neighbouring back garden, which led to waste land known as The Retreat, where the deals were done.
Police obtained search warrants and bags of heroin and crack cocaine were seized, as well as cash and drugs paraphernalia.
Detective Constable James McDonagh said: "They were not subtle about their illegal dealings but they were very organised, depending on each other to be lookouts for police.
"But they had their eyes in the wrong places because we were right under their noses for the best part of a year, gathering evidence of their illicit activities."
Five people appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday. Judge James Sampson said Beard controlled the stash but all five played a part in the drugs ring, which operated in a residential area, ruining lives and causing crime.
Beard pleaded guilty to three offences of supplying crack cocaine and two of supplying heroin and was jailed for four-and-a-half-years.
Rolley received a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, after admitting two offences of supplying crack cocaine and one of supplying heroin.
Javan Swanwick, 21, of Hendon Rise, St Ann's, was jailed for three years after he admitted three counts of supplying crack cocaine and one of supplying heroin.
Judge Sampson said Swanwick had used a debt Beard owed him to wield power over the outfit.
Craig Roach, 23, of no fixed address, also admitted two counts of supplying heroin, and Callum Arthur, 19, of Valley Road, Basford, admitted one offence of supplying heroin.
Both had their sentences deferred until next year.
Operation Vanguard tackles drug dealing and organised crime in Nottingham.
Mr McDonagh added: "With the five of them now convicted, we have removed a significant amount of Class A drugs from the streets of Nottingham that will no longer corrupt our communities."
