A HEROIN addict has been jailed for more than five years after his third conviction for dealing the Class A drug.

Kevin Blake was arrested after acting suspiciously with another man in the Oakridge area of Basingstoke on December 12 last year.

Officers searched the 33-year-old’s then address, in Vyne Road, South View, and found David Reynolds, a dealer from London, with £1,395 worth of heroin.

Winchester Crown Court heard that Blake was charged with being concerned in the supply of heroin while Reynolds was charged with possession of heroin with intent to supply.

The court heard that Blake would receive a mandatory seven-year sentence for what was his third conviction for drug trafficking – a sentence that could only be reduced by 20 per cent for an early guilty plea.

Handing Blake, who admitted the offence, a sentence of five years and eight months, Judge Keith Cutler said: “The provisions are there for the purpose of discouraging people to make sure they do not do it for a third time. You should not have been involved in letting Reynolds use your flat.”

Matthew Lawson, prosecuting, said officers arrested Blake when they thought they saw him exchanging something with another man in Oakridge.

They found £40 on him but no drugs, but when they searched his flat, they found a 2-3inch long wrap of heroin, as well as £295 and a several mobile phones.

Louisa Bagley, defending Blake, said he had met Reynolds that day and allowed his flat to be used as a drug-dealing base in exchange for heroin, but she added that Blake did not deal the drug.

She told the court that Blake, of no fixed abode, had been a heroin user for 20 years and said that his two previous convictions occur-red after he was caught out by undercover police officers posing as drug users.

John Evans, defending Reynolds, said he had come to Basingstoke to deal heroin to repay a debt. Reynolds, 21, of Croxford Road, London, also admitted the charge he faced at a previous hearing, and Judge Cutler jailed him for 30 months.