A HEROIN dealer was planning to use his criminal earnings to pay for a funeral - for the dad who introduced him to drugs as a teenager.

Anthony Walker had no money for the "sensible, appropriate, humane burial", his lawyer told a judge at Teesside Crown Court today (Monday, September 8).

He was caught with heroin with a street value of £12,850 when police carried out raids in Wembley Way, Stockton, in August last year.

Andrew Turton, mitigating, said: "His father died in the months leading up to this, and the only way, he thought, he could make money, was to carry out this process.

"It is extremely sad when a young man of 18 years finds an occupation or a habit of sharing drugs with his father. That's the sadness.

"He wanted to give his father a sensible, appropriate, humane burial. After the police seized his cash, he got a social fund loan.

"The funeral arrangements for his father was the only thing in his mind, and that's why he decided to dabble in the drugs underworld."

Walker was jailed for five years and seven months after he admitted his third charge of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, said: "You've had a miserable life, there is no doubt. You started to become addicted with your father."

Prosecutor Jenny Haigh told the court that police found 257 grammes of heroin and £1,645 in cash hidden in a carrier bag in a wardrobe.

Walker tried to swallow a package, and quickly became ill and had to be taken to hospital before he could be quizzed, Miss Haigh said.