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by Julia Roberts
A persistent drug offender caught red-handed by police as he was about to strike a deal has been jailed for more than five years.
Philip King, 47, was subject to the “three-strike rule” having admitted possessing the class A drug with intent to supply.
Under government guidelines, those who have three drug-trafficking convictions since 1997 should be given a minimum jail term of seven years, less 20 per cent discount for a guilty plea.
King, whose previous convictions include 12 offences of supplying heroin and four for possessing class A drugs with intent to supply, was sentenced to five years and eight months. Maidstone Crown Court heard King was spotted by police in the process of dealing heroin in January.