A drug addict arrested in London on suspicion of involvement in a Norwich stabbing was later found to be advertising heroin and cocaine for sale in Norfolk, a court has heard.
Darnay Alexander, 27, had spent time in the county following the murder of a friend in the capital and was arrested at his home in London in connection with an attack in Norwich.
Norwich Crown Court heard it was now accepted he was not involved in the city stabbing, but during his arrest, on May 23, officers found heroin and cocaine, as well as a phone containing drug dealing messages.
The messages were advertising drugs for sale to users in the Norwich area.
Alexander appeared in court on Monday (November 13) where he admitted two counts of being concerned in the making of an offer to supply class A drugs, heroin and cocaine, to others.
Oliver Haswell, mitigating, said Alexander was given the phone by another individual in Norwich and entered his pleas on the basis he knew what others were doing with the phone.
He said the "trigger" for Alexander, who has mental health difficulties as well as an "entrenched and substantial class A drug addiction", coming to Norwich was the murder of a close friend in London in what was understood to have been a case of "mistaken identity".
Mr Haswell said it "sent him off the rails" and he "returned to substantial use of class A drugs".
He ended up staying with a vulnerable individual who was also involved in the drugs trade.
Alexander was jailed for two and a half years by Judge Anthony Bate who accepted he played a "lesser role" in the enterprise.
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