A SELF-EMPLOYED builder who supplied heroin to undercover police was spared immediate jail.

Martin Smith, 51, who was caught out in the sting Operation Bravada, did not hold a stock of drugs and did not make financial gain.

Smith, described at Burnley Crown Court as a ‘functioning addict’ who ran his own business, was said to have had a sad family life and had suffered two particular losses which propelled him into drugs.

The defendant, of Castle Street, Nelson, had admitted supplying heroin. He was given 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, with 200 hours unpaid work and a 12-month drugs rehabilitation requirement.

The court was told Smith, a father and grandfather, supplied two wraps of heroin to the test purchaser.

He had a record for dishonesty up to 2005 and had a conviction for possessing heroin, the only drugs conviction on his record.

Judge Robert Altham told him he had pleaded guilty to an extremely serious offence but he seemed an ideal candidate for a suspended sentence. He believed the defendant would use the drugs programme to rid himself of his habit.