A street dealer with two previous convictions for drug trafficking offences has been given a mandatory seven-year prison sentence.

In March last year, drugs squad officers arrested Majid Hussain as he waited to sell wraps of heroin and crack cocaine from a car in the Canal Road area of Frizinghall.

As the officers moved in, the 27-year-old tried to swallow the class A drugs, but they were recovered together with £178 he had made from dealing.

Hussain, of Queens Road, Manningham, Bradford, was today convicted after a trial at Bradford Crown of two allegations of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply and one of possessing criminal property.

The court heard that in March, 2003, Hussain was given a community rehabilitation order for possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply it to others and in August, 2004, he was jailed for three years for further drugs-related offences.

Judge Scott Wolstenholme told the defendant that there was nothing unjust about imposing the seven-year sentence under the so-called “three strikes” legislation.

The court heard that at the time of the offences in March last year Hussain was himself an addict and Judge Wolstenholme pointed out: "You of all people ought to know the misery that is spread by the dissemination of class A drugs."

On his arrest Hussain had drugs valued at £163 on him together with the cash and Judge Wolstenholme accepted that his offending was towards the lower end of the scale of seriousness.

But he said Hussain had been dealt with very leniently in 2003 and even his three-year prison sentence in 2004 had not stopped him.

"The Court of Appeal has laid down guidelines that for commercially-motivated street dealers such as you, even if to some extent under the grip of a heroin addiction themselves, at end of a trial the appropriate sentence is between five and seven years, but in your case the starting point has to be seven years because of your previous convictions for drug trafficking offences," he told Hussain.

Sergeant Chris Day, of Bradford District Drugs Team, said: "This is a significant prison sentence for those involved in the dealing of class A drugs in the Bradford area and sends out a message that if you choose to deal drugs you will be arrested, charged and imprisoned.

"This case is not only a success for the police, but also for the local community in and around the Bradford area who have chosen to take a stand against those drug dealing.

"Anyone who has any information about those dealing in drugs is asked to contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111."