A DRUG dealer was caught hanging out of a window during a police raid.

Joshua Barwick and Dean Greenslade have been spared jail after admitting being part of a group which dealt Class A drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin as well as cannabis.

Officers from Essex Police’s Operation Raptor spotted Barwick, aged 17 at the time, attempting to deal drugs to a woman on Cherrydown East, Basildon, before officers interrupted the deal.

They found a £20 note on the floor, believed to be cash from the deal, and traced Barwick to Butterfield Court, in Bessemer Close, where a raid was carried out.

Prosecuting at Basildon Crown Court, John Livingston said: “Officer PC Hoy knocked on the door, Barwick answered and Mr Hoy said: ‘You’re nicked’.

“A struggle took place to prevent the officers getting into the flat. One of those men was Dean Greenslade. Barwick was discovered hanging out of the window. They were arrested and police seized scales with traces of Class A and B drugs.”

Wraps of cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin were also found in the flat.

Barwick and Greenslade, now aged 19 and 21, admitted being involved in supplying the drugs after the offence in September 2017.

However, they were released under investigation and not charged with four counts of being concerned in supplying Class A and B drugs until the second half of 2019.

Both defendants were funding their own addictions and have made significant efforts in the past two years to turn their lives around.

Greenslade, of Takely End, Basildon, was given two years in jail suspended for two years, and Barwick, of Long Riding, Basildon, received a two year community order and 25 days rehabilitation.

Following sentencing, Recorder Wright told the duo: “Don’t mess it up gentlemen, or you will be going inside.”