A drugs minder who was caught with nearly £8,000 worth of heroin in his home has been jailed for three years.
Exeter Crown Court heard police executed a search warrant at the Teignmouth home of 38-year-old Mark Sullivan and found 86.75 grams of heroin in the property.
Prosecutor Dave Bowen said Sullivan told police he was minding the drugs on behalf of someone else and was going to supply them back to that dealer. He said he did not know what the drugs were and claimed he was not a drugs user himself.
Mr Bowen said Sullivan had 16 previous convictions, of which seven had been for drugs possession.
Mitigating, Williams Parkhill said Sullivan had agreed to look after the drugs in return for £30 worth of heroin for his own use. He had managed to stop taking the drug for a number of years but when he lost his job he could not fund his habit from benefit payments.
He now wanted to get back on a methadone script and stop taking heroin and was motivated to address his drug habit. In this case he had acted as a storeman for meagre reward compared to the vast risk he was taking.
Sullivan, of Lower Kingsdown Road, Kingsway, Teignmouth, pleaded guilty to possessing heroin with intent to supply it and also possessing a small amount of cannabis for his own use.
Passing the prison sentence, Judge Philip Wassall told Sullivan: 'I am dealing with you on the basis that you were storing these drugs for someone else and he was coming back for them.
'This is a technique often used by dealers to minimise the amount of drugs they have in their own possession if caught. You made yourself part of his supply chain and I do not regard this as low level dealing.
'If people do this sort of thing, they must realise that they will go to prison. To deal with you in any way other than by a substantial sentence would be unduly lenient and dealers and peddlers have to realise how seriously the courts view these offences