Southampton drug dealer jailed after stabbing

Miron Ramadani was sentenced to six years and 10 months

A man has been jailed for running a drug dealing operation which ended with a near-fatal stabbing in a park.

Miron Ramadani, 20, was part of a gang of north London drug dealers who supplied heroin and crack cocaine to Southampton in March 2017.

He was arrested after one of his runners stabbed a man in the neck.

Ramadani, who admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs, was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court to six years and 10 months' detention.

'Wrong man'

The stabbing in Watts Park on 30 March 2017 severed a vein in the 44-year-old victim's neck, the court heard.

He was saved by a passing nurse who gave first aid.

The judge, Mrs Justice May, said the dealers blamed the victim for previously robbing drugs from the gang, but "had the wrong man".

A man was stabbed in Watts Park, Southampton, in March 2017

Jodie Mittell, prosecuting, said the gang was part of a so-called 'county lines' network, in which drugs are exported from large cities to smaller areas.

Ramadani and two runners made at least 11 day trips from Tottenham to Southampton, selling drugs to more than 50 clients on each visit, she said.

The defendant, of Risley Avenue, Tottenham, also previously pleaded guilty to six counts of possession with intent to supply, and one count of having criminal property, relating to £1,000 found in a safe at his home.

The judge said Ramadani was a "voluntary and active participant in serious organised drug dealing".

Two other men will be sentenced in January for the stabbing and the drugs conspiracy.