TWO men fled when police chanced upon a drug deal in a Hereford churchyard, Worcester Crown Court was told.

The officers saw one of them hide something under leaves and it turned out to be a packet containing six wraps of heroin, said Michael Conry, prosecuting.

Duncan Harris was arrested but he claimed that the heroin, worth £100, was for his own use. Later, however, he admitted he had been dealing.

Harris, aged 28, of John Tarrant Close, Newton Farm, Hereford, was jailed for three years and nine months after admitting having heroin and intending to supply..

Together with a prospective customer, he was spotted in St Francis Saviour's churchyard, Newton Farm, on December 18 last year.

Graham Cliff, defending, said Harris had four previous convictions for drug offences, but since being in prison on remand, had become drug-free for the first time in 10 years.

But Judge Ian Morris said Harris was obviously known as a drug dealer. He was selling drugs to people not knowing whether they were addicts or just trying them out.