JURORS are now deliberating in the case of two alleged drug dealers, one of whom is accused of throwing his stash into a canal, before seeing it float back up.

Mitchell Bayliss, 23, of Burnaby Road, Coventry, and Jamie Quinn, 23, of no fixed abode, are both on trial at Oxford Crown Court.

They deny two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs - cocaine and heroin.

Quinn denies a further count of possessing criminal property by having £310 in cash, which prosecutors say was the proceeds of crime.

Prosecutors claim that two plain clothed police officers first spotted the two men on the afternoon of May 1 at a canal close to Oxford rail station and the Isis Lock.

READ AGAIN: A report from the opening of the case earlier this week.

Jurors were told that as soon as the officers said they were with the police one of the men - Bayliss - ran off along the towpath.

It was claimed that during the chase Bayliss 'threw a bag into the canal' and that bag was later revealed to contain about £1,000 worth of drugs.

Jurors were told that the bag then floated back up to the surface. Police officers, it was claimed, then had to enlist a boater to help retrieve the bag of crack and heroine using a bamboo stick.

Jurors heard closing arguments from prosecutors and defence barristers in the case on Tuesday before presiding Judge Nigel Daly summed up the case.

This morning the jury of eight women and four men were sent out to begin deliberating to reach their verdicts.

Both men deny the charges and the trial continues.