A DRUG dealer is facing prison after he was caught with a knife in Worcester city centre following a police chase when he tried to run from officers waiting for him at the railway station.

Rory Allen was arrested in Farrier Street in Worcester as part of Operation Blade after he was chased by police upon getting off a train at the city's Foregate Street railway station.

He now faces a minimum seven-year jail sentence under 'third strike' rules which stipulate longer prison terms for repeat offenders.

The 30-year-old, of Cemetery Road, Wednesbury, appeared via videolink from HMP Hewell at Worcester Crown Court on Monday.

He admitted being concerned in an offer to supply class A drugs (cocaine and heroin) between March 11 and March 14 this year, possession of a bladed article and possession of criminal property (£365) on March 13, the date of his arrest.

Lal Amarasinghe, prosecuting, said Allen's previous convictions meant he 'falls foul' of section 110, sometimes referred to as the 'third strike' sentencing guidelines, which say a crown court should impose at least seven years jail time for a third class A drug trafficking offence if certain conditions are met.

Curtis Myrie, defending, applied for a pre-sentence report to be prepared by the probation service ready for the next hearing but acknowledged that Allen 'falls fall of the minimum term provisions'.

Judge Jim Tindal said he was not sure that a pre-sentence report would assist and added: "The reality of the situation is the prescribed sentence is seven years."

However, he said he would allow the application to be made on the grounds that such a report would explore whether it was unjust to impose the minimum term.

But he added: "Even if it's unjust to impose a seven-year minimum term, it's going to be, as night follows day, a substantial term of immediate imprisonment."

Mr Myrie said a pre-sentence report will assist in dealing with the defendant's circumstances at the time of the offending.

Judge Tindal, speaking to the defendant, said he made it absolutely clear that the pre-sentence report be limited to whether or not it was unjust to impose a seven-year minimum sentence.

But he warned the defendant: "There's no prospect whatsoever of anything other than a substantial custodial sentence which I imagine is likely to be longer than his previous ones of four years and five years."

The judge remanded him in custody until the next hearing on May 14 when he is scheduled to be sentenced.