A DRUG handler given a deferred sentence didn't keep his side of the bargain -- but a judge told him it had not been a disaster.

Joseph Gibson, 28, who had been told to kick his drug habit and not reoffend, had relapsed back into drug use and committed at least one criminal offence, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The court was told how all Gibson's friends had either died or lost limbs through their addictions and he knew he would be next if he did not give up drugs.

Sentencing, Judge Lesley Newton said she had no alternative but to give the defendant the jail term she had planned in the first place last October. Gibson was sent to custody for six months and 14 days.

The judge added the deferment did not seem to have worked very well, although it had not been a disaster.

She had hoped he would be able to get his life in better order.

Gibson, of Royd Street, Accrington, had admitted handling stolen goods and failing to surrender.

Richard Hunt, prosecuting, said the defendant's fingerprints had been found on a bowl inside the burgled property in Oswald Street, Accrington.

Gibson told police he knew a man named Terry Pemberton who lived next door to the burgled house.

Gibson claimed he had seen the bowl inside Mr Pemberton's house and been asked to value it to see if it was worth anything. The bowl had then been put back in the pensioner victim's home. Mr Hunt added that Gibson was well known to the courts and had served a six year jail term for robbery.

Charlotte Crangle, defending, said Gibson, who pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, had become drug-free while in custody.

After sentence was deferred, he relapsed into drug use. He had not been able to get work, had been bored and had been associating with his friends.

He now had the support of his girlfriend, who was not involved in drug use in any way.

The defendant had attended the community drugs team, as ordered by the court, but they had said they could not give him a prescription as he was drug-free.

He did not want to spend his time talking about drugs when he was doing well and was not using them.

Miss Crangle said Gibson's father was a supervisor at Hollands Pies. He had made inquiries and he was confident that, on his release from custody, he would be taken on there.

The barrister added the defendant wanted to put all his offending behind him.

He was getting towards the age of 30 and realised he was just going to face longer and longer sentences if he carried on with his previous lifestyle.

She went on: "He is adamant he will not relapse when he is released from the sentence which will be imposed today."