Drug dealer who assaulted police officer is jailed

A drug dealer who kicked and head-butted a police officer on a street in Burton has been jailed.

Joshua Page ran into a Sports Direct store after officers drove by him and a group of men at a bus stop in Worthington Way in November.

Staffordshire Police said the officers followed Page into the shop, where he dropped a baton onto the floor and ran off.

Shortly after, he was arrested in the town after trying to discard a bag containing wraps of crack cocaine.

When Page was searched, officers recovered phones, scales, empty snap-bags, two cannabis grinders and £54 cash.

In custody, a further £150 was found by officers. He was released under investigation.On Tuesday 16 January this year, detectives tried to stop Page in Stapenhill, Burton, after witnessing a drug deal.

He resisted and kicked and head-butted an officer before he was eventually detained. The officer only suffered minor injuries.Police said that when officers searched Page they found 62 deals of heroin, 41 deals of crack cocaine and cash.

Page, 19, from Burton-on-Trent, was sentenced to four years and nine months in a young offender institute at the North Staffordshire Justice Centre.

The teenager had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply heroin, two counts of possession with intent to supply crack cocaine, possessing a weapon in a public place, assaulting an emergency worker and failing to provide a sample for analysis at an earlier hearing.

Detective Sergeant Jonathan Bradbury, from major organised crime, said: “Like so many dealers, Page was running a drugs operation with no regard for the devastating impact such criminality has on others.

"This is why our proactive teams continue to work hard to target dealers and take them off our streets.​“This result also drives home our message that all assaults on our police officers and police staff are totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

"Thankfully, the officer’s injuries were not more serious.”