A TEENAGE drug addict's body was left in woodland after the people whose home he had taken drugs in discovered he had died in his sleep, a court was told.

Damian Walsh's body was found by a man out walking his dog in a wooded area near Forest Drive, Colburn, near Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, in April.

The 19-year-old's body had been left on open ground, partly covered with a blanket.

Yesterday, Teesside Crown Court was told that a pathologist had found a variety of drugs in Mr Walsh's system, but the cause of his death was probably heroin misuse.

The three people who had moved Mr Walsh's body from their home after he died appeared before the court charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Colin Stead, 28, of Teesdale Walk, and Sonia Jackson, 32, of Wellgarth, Evenwood, both Bishop Auckland, and Terence Hart, 18, of Warminster, Wiltshire, appeared before the court and admitted the charge.

Stead also admitted supplying heroin and Hart admitted possession of heroin.

Judge Peter Fox jailed Stead for four years and Jackson for 18 months. He sentenced Hart to 21 months in a young offenders' institution.

The judge told the three: "When you discovered Damian Walsh was dead you thought only of yourselves."

Ian Skelt, prosecuting, said the three had been living in Bramble Close, Colburn.

Jackson later told the police that Mr Walsh had died at their home after taking a large amount of drugs, and that they moved his body in the middle of the night.

Rod Hunt, for the three, said on that night Stead and Hart had had the same amount of heroin as Mr Walsh and survived.

But Mr Walsh had taken a cocktail of drugs, including temazepam, morphine and diazepam, as well as heroin.

Each had expressed remorse for what they did, and each had a horror for what they did that night, said Mr Hunt.

Each of them had regarded Mr Walsh as a friend but they had been concerned to cover up their own drug use.