A HANDSOME 23-year-old with a well-paid sales job is not what most would consider as prime prey for drug dealers.

The sudden realisation shocked his father, Ken, who had to confront the fact that his outwardly respectable eldest son was on the downward spiral of a junkie.

It is unfortunately an all too common journey, and it ended in his death.

Both James, 23, and his brother Steve, 19, began to display the tell-tale signs - glazed eyes, dishevelled appearance and an obsession to feed their habit in whatever way they could.

Ken, of Chester-le-Street, recalls how he did his best to steer his disintegrating family through this tough time.

His wife left him for another man and his brother had recently died of Aids while James and Steve had started dabbling in drugs. It was not a fumbling teenage attempt at experimenting. Their drug use became very heavy, very quickly.

As well as injecting heroin and morphine, they also took amphetamine and Temaz-epam, a potent tranquilliser. Despite coming from what would be considered the right side of the tracks - the family owned their own semi-detached home - the boys had no problem coming across dealers to feed their habit.

Ken describes their spiral into drug dependency. "Last year, my ex-wife started finding burned bottles, silver paper and burned spoons.

"James and Steve always had glazed eyes and they lived in cloud cuckoo land all the time.

"They denied what they were doing, but it was obvious to us. They got hold of my credit card and took money from it to feed their habit. James had a really promising sales job and was really good at it, but he gave that up."

The pain of a burst lung and his parents' acrimonious split saw James, with his younger, impressionable brother in tow, crank up his drug use until his body could not take any more.

Ken said: "In October last year, I got a phone call from Steve. He was crying and told me to come over to their flat because James was dead.

"I went over and found him on the floor next to the coffee table. I gave him mouth-to-mouth and heart massage, but he was so cold.

"What an absolute waste - a complete loss. I feel complete emptiness and I have changed beyond recognition. The people who supplied them should be shot. If only they could see what happens to someone."

Thankfully, the death of his brother acted as a wake-up call for Steve, who has since kicked the habit.

Once again, he is making his father proud - by belatedly studying for his A-levels.

"This all proves that drugs can kill, even in supposedly normal families. I just wish it hadn't taken the death of one son to save the other," said Ken.

l The family's names have been changed to protect their identity.