TWO men caught red-handed with £1,000 of crack cocaine inside a York drugs fortress have been jailed for five years each.

In the first major court case involving the Class A drug in the city for years, Geraldine Kelly, prosecuting, said the building in Cromer Street had been barricaded.

Its front and back doors were fortified with locks and bolts and an eight-foot piece of wood and its windows were nailed down.

Manholes over its drains were sealed down.

A CCTV camera mounted in a window monitored the front door.

When police raided the Cromer Street house at 1pm on December 13, they caught Steven George Kerr, 25, trying to flush rocks of crack cocaine down the toilet. They also found the occupant, Martin Henry Barrett, 31, with wet hands and crack cocaine in the bath. Elsewhere in the house, police found £20 to £40 worth of heroin, drug-dealing paraphernalia and £427 in cash, said Miss Kelly.

In a separate incident five days later, Kerr tried to swallow 29 Ecstasy tablets at once to prevent police finding them. They were worth between £150 and £280.

Police on Operation Picasso mounted surveillance on the house for two days and saw 42 drugs customers in ten hours, said Miss Kelly.

Judge James Spencer jailed the two men for five years each on charges of possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply between December 11 and 14, 2001.

Kerr, of no fixed address, was jailed for one year, concurrent, on charges of possessing Ecstasy with intent to supply on December 18 and possessing a wrap of heroin on February 24. Both men pleaded guilty to all their charges.

Miss Kelly said that police found 37 crack cocaine rocks in the Clifton house and Kerr had hidden 19 more inside himself. Together they were worth about £1,000.

For Barrett, David Bradshaw said men to whom Barrett owed drug debts had invaded his house with weapons and threatened him until he agreed to let his home be used for drug-dealing. He had not been involved directly in any sales.

For Kerr, Tim Bubb said he had been homeless and had got drugs from the Cromer Street house. Barrett had let him sleep there and he had assisted others in selling drugs.

Updated: 11:51 Wednesday, July 17, 2002