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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Ted Davenport & Pete Bainbridge

'Police saw a stream of customers walking into a hedge' - the drug dealing granddad caught selling heroin from shrubbery

A drug dealing granddad was caught selling heroin from shrubbery after police saw his customers walking back and forth from his hedge.

County lines peddler Dale McMahon travelled 240 miles from Trafford to Exeter where he sold the drugs as part of a criminal chain.

McMahon, 54, sent out text messages to users in the area offering class A substances, before meeting them at the Flowerpot Fields in the Devon city.

Police saw a stream of local drug addicts walking into a hedge by the side of the parkland and found the defendant hiding with £1,850 worth of drugs and his pockets stuffed with £579 cash.

His defence team said he now wants to go clean and be a role model for his young granddaughter.

McMahon, of Tulip Road, Partington, admitted possession of class A drugs with intent to supply.

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He was jailed for 35 months by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court on Thursday, April 4.

Judge Johnson told him:"It is quite clear you were a trusted member of a drug supply gang, entrusted with bringing drugs to Exeter or providing protection for other dealers."

Prosecutor Caroline Bolt said plain clothes police first became suspicious of McMahon when he was operating in the Catacombs near Bartholemew Street and followed him across the river to Flowerpot Fields.

Dale McMahon was found in a hedge (Exeter Police)

She said:"Police saw a lot of users walking there and going in and out of a hedge. Officers went to the bushes and found McMahon, who dropped a bag as they arrested him."

They found a large amount of drugs in the discarded bag and a bag for life. They had a total value of £1,850 and £579.93 in his pocket.

There were two mobile phones, McMahon's private supply of the heroin substitute methadone, and a spare pair of trousers. The phones showed group messages offering drugs.

Emily Cook, defending, said McMahon was drawn in by his own drug habit but has got clean while on remand and plans to go straight after his release so he can be a role model for his two-year-old granddaughter.
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