A HEROIN addict who became a drug runner to feed his own habit and drove thousands of pounds worth of drugs from London to Salisbury has been jailed for two years.

Richard Bruford from Figheldean was arrested on August 14 last year after he crashed his car into the gateway of a house in Bulford and police found heroin with a street value of between £5,400 and £6,200 in, and around, it.

The 53-year-old was part of a drugs ring which saw three dealers who sold heroin to Salisbury users sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on June 12.

London-based Marcus McGibbon supplied street dealers Amanda Marshall and Robert Witt with heroin who sold it and then paid the proceeds into McGibbon's account.

Bruford of Glencoe Cottages, Figheldean acted as a runner, ferrying drugs from the capital.

He pleaded guilty on the day of the trial and his sentencing was delayed until now while he received medical treatment for hepatitis.

The court heard Bruford had travelled from Wiltshire to London on 16 days between April and August 2014 and was in regular contact with McGibbon.

Bruford pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs on the basis that he acted as courier five or six times. He told police he was being paid in heroin to transport the packages back to Wiltshire.

Appearing today at Dorchester Crown Court, Bruford's family - including his wife Hannah who up until last year was manager of the Alabare Salisbury Drop-In Centre - sat in the public gallery to show their support.

Defending Andrew Eddy told the court Bruford was a man of good character with no previous convictions, that he was a heroin addict and had had to stop working because of his medical condition.

He said: "He was somebody who was doing this to obtain drugs for his own use.

"He knows by doing what he did he's enabled others to be fed by this terrible drug. He accepts that and wants to say sorry. He's hurt others particularly his family who support him."

Sentencing him, Judge Brian Forster QC said: "If it wasn't for people playing a part by transporting drugs it would be more difficult for offences of this type to be committed.

"But in my judgement you were vulnerable yourself and you were vulnerable because you were addicted to drugs.

"I take into account your medical situation and that you have ongoing serious medical issues, and I have regard to the fact that you were working as a courier to obtain drugs for yourself rather than other cases that I have dealt with where someone has acted in this way to make quite a lot of money."

Judge Forster said he had reduced the sentence by 20 per cent on account of his guilty plea on the day of his trial.

In June McGibbon from Willesden, northwest London, was jailed for six years for conspiring to supply heroin and possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply.

Witt of The Crusades, Bishopdown Farm got three-and-a-half years for conspiracy to supply class-A drugs and money laundering and his partner, Marshall, also of The Crusades, Bishopdown Farm, was given a two-year sentence for the same charges, suspended for two years.