A DRUGS minder who stored heroin in his home because he owed money to a dealer was jailed for two years yesterday.

Brian Lewis, 38, told police who raided his house in Billingham that he was holding heroin worth £700 and there was more, worth £690, in the kitchen, plus amounts of cash totalling £1,783.

Tim Roberts, for Lewis, said he was not a heroin user and he was pressured into looking after it and the money.

Lewis of Knowle Road, Billingham, pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to supply it, on November 24.

Judge Tony Briggs told him: "The sad fact is that the drug trade, with all its attendant disasters affecting so many people coming before the courts, can't act without people such as you. Custody is inevitable."

The money was confiscated and the drugs ordered to be destroyed.