A FORMER Dudley pharmacist has been put behind bars for 28 months for illegally supplying prescription drugs with a street value of over £250,000.

Jaspar Ojela, who was the owner of Kates Hill Pharmacy in St. John's Road until it closed in June 2017, sold the drugs on the black market at secret meetings on car parks in the Dudley area.

"What you did was a very serious breach of your duty as a pharmacist," Judge Dean Kershaw told the 56-year-old at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Ojela, who had been studying medicine in Armenia, dealt thousands of packets of controlled drugs over a 12 month period in Dudley.

A qualified pharmacist Ojela of Bustleholme Lane, West Bromwich was made bankrupt in July last year after his business was no longer viable.

He pleaded guilty to three charges of supplying of drugs between February and September 2016 and the Judge ruled the offences were so serious only immediate custody was appropriate.

Mr James Bruce defending told the court that Ojela whose motivation was "purely financial" was a very educated man but "not a very good businessman."

Mr Jonathan Barker prosecuting said Ojela had maintained he had made a profit of under £2,000 from his criminality but it was clear the drugs had a much higher value.