HEROIN dealer William Douglas was jailed for three years after a court heard how he was found armed with a machete to protect himself after receiving death threats.

Douglas, 26, of Ridings Mead, Chippenham, had been taking drugs since he was six, Swindon Crown Court heard on Friday, October 27.

He was arrested after a high speed chase in Chippenham in January.

He admitted charges including dealing heroin in Chippenham, carrying dangerous weapons to arm himself against debt collectors and dangerous driving.

Douglas, whose brother is a detective constable with the National Crime Squad and his sister a sales director for a tabloid newspaper, said he was carrying the machete because he had received death threats from those he owed drug money to.

Douglas' mother Alice Campbell took to the witness stand in tears to tell the court how he had managed to get himself off heroin during the last 12 months. She said he has had a medical implant which causes his body to go into withdrawal if he took any of the drug.

She said she and her husband had spent more than £20,000 of their life's savings paying for drug treatment and had had their home burgled on many occasions by people collecting drug debts.

The court heard Douglas was driving a Ford Fiesta when he was chased by an unmarked police car in Bristol. It ended when the Fiesta crashed into a wall.

At that time he was found with cannabis on his person and told police he had tried to escape them because he did not have vehicle insurance.

On August 29 he was involved in a second chase in Chippenham by police who suspected he was dealing drugs. The car, being driven by 24-year-old Leon Bull, of Wessex Road, Chippenham, was stopped after a high-speed chase and Douglas was found with £600 worth of heroin on him.

Defence barrister James Patrick said: "In all the time I have been in this job I have never seen a drugs history like this one. This man has been drug taking since the age of six.''

Mr Patrick told the court Douglas, who was brought up in Glasgow, had started with cannabis and worked his way on to amphetamines, ecstasy and eventually heroin. "To feed his habit he stole, he begged and he robbed but now he has weened himself off the drug and is trying to turn his life around,'' he said.

At the time of the second car chase, Douglas said he was picking up drugs to sell to pay off his debts.

Douglas had to be moved from Bristol Prison to Cardiff while on remand because of threats on his life from dealers who were owed more than £5,000 in drug debts. The court heard they also threatened his parents.

"They made it quite plain the next time they saw him would be on a mortuary slab,'' said Mr Patrick.

Douglas was sentenced to a total of 11 years and nine months imprisonment to be served concurrently, which means he will serve three years in jail.

Afterwards Mrs Campbell said: "I think it was a very fair sentence. I was expecting it to be a lot worse than that.''

Bull, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop and having no insurance, was jailed for 11 months at Swindon Crown Court yesterday.

PC Des Moloney, of the police drugs unit based at Melksham police station, said: "We are very pleased with the sentence and hope it sends a message to other dealers in the area that they can expect the same.

"The court makes a distinction between dealers and users and they can expect sentences in terms of years, not months."

"Douglas is the classic example of someone who started as a user and became a dealer to feed his own habit."