A MAN caught dealing in heroin in an undercover police operation has been jailed for three years.

Christopher Cumpsty provided two drug wraps of an unusually high purity.

Preston Crown Court heard how he was arrested as part of an operation called Kipper which has already resulted in around 30 people appearing in court.

Cumpsty, 27, of Heysham Road, Morecambe, had pleaded guilty to two charges of supplying diamorphine, otherwise known as heroin.

The offences took place at the end of June last year and the beginning of July. Mr Simon Burrows, prosecuting, said an undercover operation called Kipper was carried out which involved police setting up a shop in Yorkshire Street East, Morecambe.

On one date a man was in the shop talking about where he could obtain his gear. He used a mobile phone and four or five minutes later the defendant went there and had a conversation with an officer called Eric.

Cumpsty supplied him with 550 milligrams of the drug at a cost of £30. The following day he returned, had another conversation with the same officer and supplied another £30 drug wrap.

The court was told that around thirty or so others had been dealt with as part of the same operation. The highest sentence handed out had been seven years.

Mr Ian Dacre, defending, said: "He was not a major player in these stakes. He was someone who simply got caught up in the operation. The quantity supplied by the defendant was small in both instances. The total amount was less than a gramme. He was at the bottom end of dealing."

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