Four years in jail for man who sold drug

The 32-year-old was found with £1,500 worth of heroin when twice caught in possession with intent to supply.

He was first arrested on May 17 this year when police approached a Ford Orion parked in Cavendish Square after receiving reports of a man slumped in the car.

Sentencing him to four years in jail Judge Tom Longbotham told him: "The fact of the matter is that retailing class A drugs, even at that level, to other addicts for your own purposes, is a very serious matter."

Liz Cunningham, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that officers approached the vehicle and notice drugs paraphernalia.

In the footwell next to Gibbons' feet they found a cellophane wrap of brown powder which turned out to be 3.9g of heroin.

She added that when they searched Gibbons they found a further 3.2g of heroin as well as 1.4g of cannabis. During the initial search they found £184 cash and another £400 in his left sock.

Gibbons was released on bail and police carried out a drugs search at his home on July 25, when they found 13.8g of heroin and another wrap containing 0.6g.

Miss Cunningham said Gibbons, of Prospect Hill, had a string of previous convictions for offences of dishonesty but none for drug dealing.

Mark Ashley, defending, said his client only accepted having sold the drug to friends who were already users of the drug.

He said: "It is fairly clear that he is a man who from a very young age has been involved in drugs. At 13 it started with glue and it became an addiction to heroin.

"As an addict, an unemployed addict, he fully accepts that he sold heroin with a small amount of profit to fund his own habit.

"In the pre-sentence report it values the drug at £1,500 but what Mr Gibbons paid for them was £700."

He said that Gibbons, who admitted two counts of possession with intent to supply, possession of heroin and possession of cannabis, was determined to clear himself of heroin when he was freed from prison.