A drug dealer with links to London gangs lodged at an addict’s home in Tunbridge Wells so that crack cocaine and heroin could be sold on the streets, a court heard.

When arrested, one of Shay Hanchard’s mobile phones contained photos of him with a handgun and others with large amounts of cash and semi-automatic firearms.

The 20-year-old was rumbled during an operation to target London gangs using local addicts as drug runners.

Prosecutor Alexia Zimbler said officers caught heroin addict Nathan Watson with seven wraps of crack cocaine on September 9 last year as he walked away from his home in London Road, Southborough.

They then went to the address and found Hanchard in the bathroom. In his pockets were 26 wraps - 16 of cocaine and 10 of heroin.

A ball of 76 wraps - including heroin at 57 per cent purity - was discovered under stairs outside.

Miss Zimbler told Maidstone Crown Court Watson, 35, was being used as a runner by the gangs.

“Mr Hanchard has closer links with the gangs,” she said. “They will use people who are addicts and pay them with drugs to sell drugs.

Hanchard, of Lewisham, south east London, and Watson admitted possessing drugs with

intent to supply.

Hanchard’s previous convictions included robbery in 2012, for which he was sentenced to 28 months youth custody.

Watson was jailed for 20 months in 2010 for being concerned in the supply of heroin.

Now, Hanchard has been sentenced to four years and four months youth custody and Watson to three-and-a-half years in prison.

Judge Philip Statman said: “What is a particularly troubling aspect of this case is it reveals again, well known to this court, the supply of drugs coming down from south London to Tunbridge Wells.

“It is clear what is happening here is the onward supply from south London to ensure addicts are using drugs from that area in Tunbridge Wells.

“The supply of Class A drugs brings degradation and misery to the community as a whole. Inevitably, in cases such as this exemplary sentences of custody are called for.”