A 29-YEAR-OLD Kingswinford man who played a “significant” role in a cocaine supplying operation has been locked up for six years.

Judge Robin Onions at Wolverhampton Crown Court told Ross Wood who was twice caught street dealing: “You were higher up the chain and you were directing and organising the sale of this drug.”

He said Wood was leading a lifestyle that could only be funded by criminal means - adding: “The supplying was not only to fuel your own addiction - it was also a profitable occupation.”

Wood, of Summer Street, admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine, possessing the Class A drug and also possessing the drug with intent to supply.

Walter Bealby, prosecuting, said police officers caught Wood with a small amount of cocaine in Greenfields Road, Kingswinford.

He was arrested and when his two mobile telephones were searched the officers found a series of messages relating to the sale of drugs.

Mr Bealby told the court Wood was bailed but he was seen for a second time in Greenfields Road when he threw a number of wraps of cocaine into a car after realising he had been spotted by officers.

Wood, the court was told, came from a very respectable family and he had been addicted to cocaine for a number of years - having started dealing to fund his own habit.

Alistair Reedy, defending, said Wood had gone “completely off the rails” because of his addiction but while being held on remand in prison he had been taking determined steps to put his life back in order.

Mr Reedy said: “There is evidence he is a man who knows he has done wrong after engaging in a lifestyle that was drug driven.

The Judge said Wood, who is now facing a Proceeds of Crime Hearing in which his assets may be seized by police, had recruited one other man into the operation and he had supplied him with a BMW car.