POLICE have scored another success in the battle against Merseyside drug dealers targeting York.

York Crown Court heard how undercover detectives caught a Liverpudlian dealer red-handed in a flat preparing heroin for deals, after watching him for some time meeting known drug addicts and dealers in the city centre.

Richard Gioserano, prosecuting, described how shortly before the raid a woman detective had walked past Anthony Gerard Bennett in an alleyway off Micklegate as he carried out a deal.

Both dealer and addict stopped talking as she approached, but her colleagues arrested the buyer after the deal and found the heroin on him. Then they followed Bennett to a flat in Anne Street, off Bishopthorpe Road.

He had £1,000 with him when detectives burst in. He was busy cutting up heroin in the kitchen and had enough for 15 to 16 wraps, said Mr Gioserano.

"I have been waiting for a while for this," he told a police officer, as they waited for transport to Fulford Road police station after the raid. "I will see you in eight years."

Liverpudlian Bennett, 44, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to supplying heroin on June 8 and possessing heroin with intent to supply on the same date. A charge of supplying heroin on May 21 was left on file.

"It's not eight years, it's four years," the Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, told Bennett as he jailed him at York Crown Court.

He is the latest in a lengthening list of dealers from Liverpool who have tried their hand at dealing in York and ended up in jail.

Judge Hoffman said: "We have got enough dealers in York and the surrounding district not to want any to come over from Liverpool."

For Bennett, Diane Nixon said he had been an addict for 22 years. His habit had spiralled out of control this year until he was using £150 a day and had £3,000 drug debts.

His dealer had told him to collect money from Liverpool dealers in York in May, but he had been robbed by drug addicts and lost some of his dealer's money.

Feeling under pressure, he had turned to dealing to fund his habit and pay his debts.

He wanted to start a new life away from Liverpool on his release.