A criminology student from Leicester sold heroin and crack cocaine to pay off a loan he took out to stop himself being evicted.
Adeola Shonibare, who was studying at the University of Leicester, borrowed money from a lender in London who forced him to sell the class A drugs to pay off his debt.
Prosecutor Alexander Wolfson told Leicester crown court how the 21-year-old student was caught with crack cocaine and heroin in Leicester while on police bail - four months after being arrested with the class A drugs in Hampshire.
Shonibare was arrested with 249 wraps of crack cocaine and 110 wraps of heroin, worth £3,500, in Farnborough, Hampshire, on July 26 last year.
On December 5 he was arrested in Leicester with 149 wraps of crack cocaine and 77 wraps of heroin, worth £1,865.
Mr Wolfson said police visited a flat in Farnborough, Hampshire, to check out reports of a vulnerable person being exploited.
He said: “Police carried out a well-being check on a person who was considered vulnerable to the attention of those seeking to cuckoo, that is, to sell drugs from the flat.
“When police attended they found Shonibare at the flat.”
Mr Wolfson said police raided a house in Queen Street, in Leicester city centre, and found Shonibare there.
He admitted that the wraps of the drugs that were found in both properties were his.
Shonibare, of Queen Street, Leicester, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine in Leicester and Farnborough.
Emma Hodgson, defending, said that her client was a man of previous good character.
She said: “He was a student at the University of Leicester. He fell into debt. He was in arrears and was being evicted.
“He made attempts to find paid work but failed, he applied for a bank loan and was turned down. He borrowed money from a lender in London.”
She said Shonibare struggled to repay the loan and was told he had to sell drugs to settle the debt.
“He was sent to Hampshire,” she said. “After he was arrested his debt increased by £33,500.
“He was forced to deal drugs in Leicester by the people he owed money to.
“My client is a man of previous good character and not from a criminal background.
“He was not a member of any gang. All he wanted to do was better himself through education.
“In the future, he wants to return to university to qualify as a social worker to help youths coming from a similar background as himself.”
Judge Nicholas Dean QC told Shonibare that he accepted he may have been exploited by the people he owed money to.
He told Shonibare: “More than 500 wraps of class A drugs is capable of causing a great deal of harm to those people who use the drugs and misery to all their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
“That number of wraps of heroin and crack cocaine gives an idea of the scale of this operation. It’s street dealing.”
He jailed Shonibare for a total of three years and four months.
Shonibare remained impassive as he was led away to the cells to begin his sentence.
