A CRACK cocaine dealer who delivered the deadly drug to houses around Swindon has been sent to jail for three years.

Clifford Curtis, a drug addict, also supplied heroin to earn money and get free drugs, Swindon Crown Court was told.

Rob Welling, prosecuting, said that the 21-year-old was spotted by police in the Old Town area in late September.

He said that when officers went to arrest him a struggle developed which lasted 10 minutes as Curtis wouldn't let go of the drugs in his hand.

When he was finally detained he was found to have two bags containing heroin and crack cocaine with a total street value of £270.

The first package had five individual wraps of heroin inside weighing in 743mg and two rocks of crack weighing 319mg.

In the second cling film package were a further two wraps of heroin weighing 361mg and six more rocks of crack weighing 1040mg.

Mr Welling said "When police interviewed him he said he had been involved in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin for the past two weeks.''

His supplier gave him the wraps and told him to deliver them to various houses in the town centre, said Mr Welling.

For that Curtis would receive £50 in cash as well as a wrap of heroin as paymen.

He said that as well as making drug deliveries Curtis also received telephone calls from people asking him for supplies.

At an earlier hearing Curtis, of Linden Avenue, Pinehurst, admitted two charges of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.

Rob Ross, defending, said that his client had only started taking drugs relatively recently after falling in with the wrong crowd.

He said "The important thing that can be said for this young man is that his offending over a long period of time has not been drug related.

"He had stopped using violence and his level of offending had begun to drop off considerably but then he got himself involved with drugs.

"I would put his drop in offending down to his stable situation with his partner."

He said his client was just a runner for the main dealer but accepted that people had started to call him for their drugs.

Jailing him Judge Tom Longbotham said "I accept that in terms of the supply chain, or pyramid as they call it, you come towards the bottom.

"Mr Ross accepts that in a short time you've become known because of your activities.

"Whatever your part in the chain of supply of class drugs, the supply of class A drugs is a very serious offence.

"Those who appear before these courts for supply must expect to go to prison and to go to prison for a substantial length of time."