DRUG dealers threw their £10,000 stash of heroin and crack cocaine out of a car window during a police chase through Worcester which only ended when the driver crashed.

Sophie Thompson, Davinder Rana and Tariq Stevens all admitted possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply at Worcester Crown Court on Thursday.

Stevens also admitted dangerous driving and possession of a class C drug.

During the chase the dealers discarded 48.181g of heroin with a street value of around £4,800 and 52.621g of crack cocaine with a street value of around £5,500, throwing the package out of the car window as they sped along Ombersley Road in Worcester.

Christopher Lester, prosecuting, said police received reports on April 25 this year about suspicious activity involving a Nissan hire car. Police formed the view that those inside were involved in drug dealing in Worcester.

The following day officers in a marked car spotted the Nissan in Tolladine Road, Worcester at around 12.10pm.

"Almost immediately the occupants noticed the marked car and effectively fled. A chase began" said Mr Lester.

The police activated their blue lights and sirens as Stevens speeded through residential streets, heading along Windermere Drive, into Cranham Drive to Cotswold Way and on towards Blackpole. From there Stevens drove passengers Thompson and Rana onto the A38 Droitwich Road before turning onto the A449 Ombersley Road where a package containing the drugs was thrown out of the passenger side of the car.

The Nissan continued on the A449, going the wrong way around the roundabout and up towards junction six of the M5 where Stevens lost control of the car and crashed.

Thompson was found with £187.60 and a mobile phone with relevant texts about drug dealing. Stevens was found with £193.50 and a crack pipe. Rana was found with £165.50. All three were arrested and taken to Worcester Police Station. Stevens and Thompson gave no comment interviews and released prepared statements. Rana said he had been in Malvern when the car stopped and picked him up, claiming he knew nothing about any drug dealing.

Texts on Thompson's phone showed that she was 'the manager', Stevens was 'the driver' and Rana was 'the plugger' and 'muscle'. She also messaged her boyfriend about staying in a Worcester hotel and there was reference to 'doing good trade' in the city as she told him 'you ain't reaching our level', 'tell me I ain't killing it' and that she was making 'a mill' (slang for million).

Rana's mobile contained postcodes for Birmingham and Worcester which Mr Lester said was indicative of locations for dealing drugs.

The package of drugs was recovered by the police and analysed. The heroin was between 70 to 73 per cent purity, the crack cocaine was as high as 91 per cent purity.

Of the individual crack packages 20 were at 80 per cent purity and the remaining 80 at 88 to 91 per cent purity.

Stevens, aged 39, of Wretham Road, Birmingham, has previous convictions for robbery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assaulting a police constable and threatening behaviour.

He was also subject to a four week prison sentence suspended for 12 months at the time of the drugs offences.

Rana, aged 22, of Wretham Road, Birmingham has two previous convictions for dealing crack cocaine and heroin and, as a 'third striker', was eligible for a minimum seven year sentence.

Thompson, 22, of no fixed abode, has previous convictions for theft from a dwelling and burglary.

Jason Patel, for Thompson, said his client had been dealing with her own long term cocaine addiction issues and argued that some of the text messages were 'in essence bravado'.

He said during her first period of incarceration she had completed qualifications in English, maths, computing and anger management. Mr Patel said she was now clean of her addiction and her dealing was 'in essence, to clear her debt to a particular individual'.

Gary Harper, for Rana, said: "He became homeless in February this year and fell back into bad habits around drugs. He's made some very ill-advised life choices."

Judge Nicolas Cartwright said: "The fact that all three of you are from the Birmingham area and had travelled down to Worcester with this quantity of drugs in the hired car and the other evidence of cash and messages indicates that the three of you were in a joint enterprise to cross county boundaries to come to Worcester to supply a significant quantity of class A drugs."

He jailed Rana for five years and eight months. He jailed Thompson for 45 months. The court was told that Stevens refused to get on the prison bus from HMP Hewell and his sentencing will take place at a later date.

A proceeds of crime timetable has also been drawn up. A hearing is expected to take place in January.