Dion Griffin's boasting was found to be 'absolute puff'

A drug dealer caught on a secret police tape bragging that he was the largest supplier of heroin in Nottingham has been jailed.

Dion Griffin, 28, was heard boasting of his successes and claiming he ran an operation supplying narcotics to inmates at Nottingham Prison.

Judge Peter Stretton, in Derby Crown Court on Thursday, sentenced him to five years and nine months in jail.

"There is no doubt that you have obtained a substantial benefit from dealing in heroin," he said.

Griffin, of Beaumont Leys, Leicester admitted one charge of conspiracy to supply heroin.

The court knows that his boasts about being the biggest drug dealer in Nottingham are absolute puff Bernard Eaton, defence lawyer

Prosecutor Kate Hargreaves said during a covert police operation, Griffin was heard on audio tape carrying out a deal to bring £10,000 worth of heroin to Nottingham from Liverpool.

A fellow defendant, Daniel Walsh, 28, of James Close, Derby, was last week jailed for eight and a half years.

"If Walsh was a busy city-centre pub, Griffin's enterprise was more like a back-street boozer, " Miss Hargreaves said.

Both men, and three others, were caught during a police operation.

Miss Hargreaves told the court that police had installed audio surveillance devices in a house and a hire car as part of their work.

Defence lawyer Bernard Eaton said his client's extravagant claims about the success of his dealing bore no relation to the truth.

"The court knows that his boasts about being the biggest drug dealer in Nottingham are absolute puff," he said.