Two drug dealers who exchanged photos of their goods and planned sales over WhatsApp have been jailed for a combined 36 months.

Eric Taylor, 26, was arrested on May 23, 2022, after police executed a search at his home address of Leyland Road, Burnley.

There, they recovered two mobile phones, 2.241kg on cannabis, £7,995 in cash and a further £125 from the pocket of a pair of tracksuit bottoms, and an e-bike.

Shahid Ansar, 32, of St Peter’s Road, Nelson, was arrested on March 30, 2022 for different offences, and was charged in relation to this offence in August 2022 when he was already remanded in custody.

Taylor accepted two charges of conspiracy to supply class B drugs and possession of criminal property, while Ansar accepted his charge of conspiracy to supply class B drugs.

During the hearing at Preston Crown Court, Holly Nelson, prosecuting, said upon examination of the phones found at Taylor’s house, it became clear the pair were using codenames to refer to each other – Taylor being ‘Dizzy T’ and Ansar being ‘Dilly’.

Messages exchanged included the Ansar offering Taylor several different strains of cannabis – including gelato, haze, and purple mimosa – generally at around £5,000 for 1kg of the drug.

Photos of the drugs would be exchanged often, including two sent on November 27, 2021, which Ansar offered for £4,200 and to which Taylor replied ‘safe bro, looks nice.’

The street value of the drugs seized from Taylor was estimated to be around £22,400, and discussions of money owed totals more than £70,000.

Both Taylor and Ansar provided no comment answers to all questions following their subsequent arrests.

Ansar has eight convictions from eight offences, while Taylor has seven convictions for 20 offences – though most are to do with driving, including being disqualified and uninsured for which he received a suspended sentence.

It was during that suspended sentence he was arrested for these offences.

Mitigating for Taylor, Gerrard Doran said Taylor had expressed “regret and remorse” and acknowledged the “shame he has brought to his family’s door”.

He added Taylor has taken steps to change his offending behaviour and sought to improve his position by taking courses in prison having been in custody for the offences since October 2022.

Mark Stewart, mitigating for Ansar, said he had no court appearances since 2013 having said upon release from prison then he would not get into trouble again.

He added Ansar was only involved in the operation for around six weeks, between October and December 2021, though acted at a higher level than Taylor.

Ansar was uninvolved for the period at the start of 2022 until his arrest.

Sentencing, Judge Steven Davies, said: “Police executed a search warrant at Taylor’s address where they discovered substantial quantities of cannabis, together with cash approaching £8,000 and drug paraphernalia.

“They also seized phones which confirmed what was apparent, which was you had been selling cannabis in substantial quantities to street users.”

Addressing Ansar, he continued: “You at the time had become married and your wife had come to the country from Italy.

"You had one child and you had another born while you were remanded in custody.

“I hope you’re right when you say this time you will learn your lesson.”

Judge Davies sentenced Ansar to 24 months in prison.

Taylor was sentenced to 12 months for the conspiracy to supply class B drugs, and six months to run concurrently for the possession of criminal property.

The time each spent on remand will count towards their sentences.