A 53-YEAR-OLD man struggling to cope with a depressed wife and a hyperactive child used amphetamine to keep him going at the end of the day, a court heard.

Blackburn magistrates were told that John William Foley used the stimulant when he felt "fit to drop".

Foley, of Dunnyshop Avenue, Accrington, pleaded guilty to possession of amphetamine. The offence put him in breach of a suspended prison sentence imposed in September for disqualified driving and drugs offences. He was jailed for four months.

Jonathan Taylor, defending, said Foley lived with his partner and their two children aged 15 and seven.

"His wife suffers from depression and some days it is hard to coax her out of her own bed," said Mr Taylor.