A MAN who provided a base for a mobile drug dealer to prepare wraps of heroin, which were then distributed by bike, was warned yesterday to expect a lengthy prison sentence.

Sarah Tyrer, prosecuting, told the town's magistrates that Timothy Higgins, 25, was caught during covert surveillance by North Yorkshire Police drugs squad, which targeted his flat, in Wellington House, Cold Bath Road, Harrogate.

The main target of Operation Wells had been a man police believed to be responsible for the supply of heroin in the town, but police realised he was using Higgins' flat as a base, said Mrs Tyrer.

Higgins, 25, a heroin addict, had agreed to allow the dealer to set up in his flat. He was paid £15 a day, either in cash or in heroin. Each morning, after injecting himself, he would leave the flat for the day.

Higgins pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin and to possession of the drug.

Presiding magistrate Timothy Burrell told Higgins the right venue for sentence was York Crown Court. He remanded him on bail to appear there on January 2.