A MAN died shortly after being injected with heroin at the home of an "unscrupulous" drug supplier, a court heard.

Unemployed construction worker Desmond "Dessie" Johns collapsed after being given the injection by Melanie Storey

Durham Crown Court was told that she refused to call an ambulance and instead summoned two friends to remove Mr Johns.

He was dumped in the street outside her home on Spennymoor's Tudhoe Moor Estate, and Ms Storey returned to watching television.

A passer-by found 43-year-old Mr Johns lying on the pavement and alerted the emergency services, but he died despite efforts to resuscitate him by paramedics.

Aidan Marron, prosecuting, said a subsequent post- mortem examination revealed he had a fresh intravenous injection mark on his arm.

The pathologist's report confirmed his death would have followed shortly after the injection.

Mr Marron said the following day Ms Storey told a neighbour: "It was just a shady bag", suggesting he had been given a bad dose of heroin.

Ms Storey was arrested and told police that Mr Johns, described in court as an alcoholic addicted to pain killers, had called at her home that evening, November 5 last year, asking "for gear".

Mr Marron said Ms Storey claimed she did not have any, and despite repeated questioning by police, "consistently and persistently" denied supplying or injecting Mr Johns.

The 31-year-old mother-of-three denies a charge of manslaughter.

She has also pleaded not guilty to ten counts of supplying a class A drug, four of possession of drugs with intent to supply and one of witness intimidation.

Mr Marron told the court on the first day of her trial that Ms Storey was a "significant" supplier of heroin in the Spennymoor, Coxhoe and Ferryhill areas.

"Somewhat peculiarly she injected a variety of addicts with heroin. She possessed some skills and expertise in finding a vein and she injected her customers."

Mr Marron said she even went to the lengths of having security television installed to monitor callers at her home, which was also barricaded.

Police raided the property a month before Mr Johns' death and recovered a small amount of heroin, while traces of cocaine were identified. Officers also seized £900 and items associated with drug dealing.

The day after Mr Johns' death, the house was again raided and £900 was found, as well as drug-dealing equipment.

The trial continues.