A DRUG dealer ran his own crack cocaine operation from a flat where a four-year-old child lived.

Nathan Heirs has been jailed after he started up his own drugs line with the name “Lucky” to deal around the Basildon borough.

The 24-year-old, of Bourne Avenue, fell into financial difficulty and was advised he could make money out of dealing drugs, and naively decided to name his operation after his own nickname.

Police officers were alerted to unregistered numbers arranging the selling of cocaine, heroin and cannabis in the area.

Further enquiries with a taxi firm found that the number had made regular bookings under the name “Lucky”, some of which would later be found to have been used by Heirs to take his drugs around the borough.

When police raided his home in August this year, Heirs was found and as police tried to apprehend him, he threw a bag of crack cocaine and heroin through the window, which was immediately recovered.

Heirs had been living at the apartment and used it as a base for his drugs operation.

Heirs went on to admit possession of cannabis and being concerned in the supply of Class A and B drugs and was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

Mitigating, Chris Whitcombe said: “He previously had full time employment with his father.

“His father suffered a stroke in 2019 and he was no longer able to work.

“The defendant foolishly turned to friends of friends who said he could make money by dealing drugs.”

Sentencing him to three years and eight months in jail, Judge Andrew Hurst told Heirs: “What isn’t to be commended is you were dealing drugs where a four-year-old child was present.

“The world of drugs is nasty enough, we need to protect children from exposure to it.

“You’re a marked man as far as police are concerned.”