A LONG-TERM heroin addict acted as a dealer's runner to ensure his supply of the drug.

Police found an egg-shaped container with a dozen wraps of heroin when Christopher Williams, from Hartlepool, was pulled up at the wheel of a car, on the A1086 Coast Road, near Blackhall Rocks, in east Durham.

Several needles, a mobile phone and two notebooks were also retrieved from the car, in the search on September 12 last year.

Durham Crown Court heard that Williams admitted he was a heroin user, and confirmed the wraps contained the drug, but said it was for his own use.

Jenny Haigh, prosecuting, said one of the notebooks contained a dealer's list of names, cash amounts and phone numbers.

When interviewed by police, Williams said he made up the wraps, to ensure he did not take too much heroin per dose.

He said the notebooks did not belong to him.

But, at a previous hearing, 25-year-old Williams, of Bruntoft Avenue, Hartlepool, admitted possessing the class A drug with intent to supply.

Mark Styles, mitigating, said Williams was acting as a 'a runner' and in return would have received heroin for his own use.

Jailing him for a year, Judge Richard Lowden told Williams: "I would have been more impressed if you had taken the opportunity to overcome drug-taking when you weren't in custody."

Judge Lowden added seven days to Williams' sentence for a previous breach of bail.