A serial drug dealer who plotted to sell £1,000 worth of cannabis from the Croydon pub his girlfriend managed has been jailed for two years.

John Nelson Robinson, 49, pleaded guilty in July to offering to supply the drug from the Tamworth Arms between September 2014 and May 2015.

He also admitted being illegally in possession of more than £3,500 in cash and possession of cocaine.

His partner, 29-year-old landlady Toni Sheard, who lives at the Tamworth Road pub, admitted offering to supply cannabis and possession of criminal property.

The couple had been accused of conspiring to supply both cocaine and cannabis from the pub, although prosecutors dropped the charges of dealing the class A drug following the late guilty pleas.

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At their sentencing hearing at Croydon Crown Court today, it emerged that Robinson, of Church Road, had a number of previous convictions for dealing drugs - including a suspended sentence received while on bail earlier this year.

The former bin man had a chequered criminal past stretching back to 1984, prosecutor Francis Lloyd said, including convictions for assaulting a policeman, driving and dishonesty offences.

In 2013 he was jailed for 20 months for possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs; almost immediately after being released, he returned to selling drugs, Judge Nicholas Ainley said.

Handing down the two-year jail term, the judge added: "This is street dealing at a significant level...and you have done it before."

But Sheard, who had no previous drug convictions, was spared jail with a 16-month suspended sentence.

The Tamworth Arms closed its doors in June 2015, two days before a Croydon Council was due to review its licence and less than a year after More Inns Limited - under the directorship of Sheard - took control of the pub.

Police who raided the pub the previous month found large quantities of cannabis and evidence that suggested the presence of other drugs.

The pub had its licence suspended the day after the police raid, and a later search of Robinson's home and car led to the discovery of further drugs and paraphernalia, as well as a large quantity of cash.

Altogether 203 grams of cannabis were seized, along with a few grams of cocaine and £3,658.65 in cash, Mr Lloyd said.

The prosecutor told the court that Sheard had a criminal record stretching back to 2005, including convictions for assaulting a police officer and public order offences.

Her lawyer, Dora Belford, told the judge that Sheard had "genuine apology and remorse" for her crimes, adding: "The reality is at that time she often smoked cannabis at the end of the shift. She and her co-defendant would go back to his flat which was close-by, and if there were friends there would be cannabis smoking."

More Inns Ltd was dissolved on March 29 this year, days after Sheard and Robinson entered not-guilty pleas at Croydon Crown Court.

When Ms Belford said Sheard had struggled to find work since being arrested, Judge Ainsley said it "serves you right".

He added: "That's what happens when you get caught committing this type of offence - especially when you are in a position of responsibility."

Kate Parker, defending Robinson, said her client was a "cannabis addict" who had smoked the drug almost every day since he was 16-years-old.

She added: "He's desperate to kick this habit that has blighted the best part of his life.

"Effectively, the scheme was cyclical, in so far as what was sold the money affected channelled back into his own drug use."

The seized cash "wasn't exclusively the proceeds of ill-gotten gains" Ms Parker said, and noted Robinson's recent employment as a refuse collector and occasional shifts at the pub.

But the judge asked: "But he did manage to afford a Range Rover?"

Robinson, sporting a blue Help for Heroes hoodie, and Sheard, dressed all in black, were silent as their sentences were read out.

After their sentences were read out, the couple kissed and embraced before Robinson was led away and Sheard was allowed of the dock to join her family.

But the judge had already warned her that her suspended sentence, which also a six-month cannabis drug rehabilitation order and 180 hours unpaid work, should be considered a blessing.

He said: "You get a chance. But it's only this one chance."

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