THE latest drug dealer to be sentenced after being caught in a massive police operation been jailed for four years.

Shaun Hennessy, 52, who supplied heroin to an undercover police officer and was caught on video, was glad he had been brought to book as it had saved his life, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Sentencing, Judge Alan Taylor told the defendant he had willingly supplied the officer regularly and would have gone on doing so.

Hennessy, formerly of Nairne Street, Burnley, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin on March 22 last year and four allegations of supplying the drug between May 18 and 24.

The defendant, who has previous convictions for drugs offences, has been on remand since his arrest in dawn police swoops as part of Operation Nimrod last November.

Anthony Cross, defending, told the court Hennessy would say that being caught had saved his life.

The barrister said: "The man you see now bears no resemblance to the man on video. He has put weight on and he looks healthier.

"He has been drug tested while in prison and all have been negative."

Mr Cross said the defendant knew that if he had not been arrested he would have died either from a drugs overdose or as a result of debilitating health problems.

The defendant intended to make full and proper use of whatever opportunities presented themselves to him while he was in jail.

Hennessy was now more lucid, Mr Cross said. At the time of the offences he had been incapable of being lucid, had been on a downward spiral of increasing addiction and had given no thought to what he was involved in.

Mr Cross said the defendant had been on remand 174 days and went on: "Now he understands the part he was playing in the chain of supply.

"Not only does he feel sorry for himself, he understands that which he was involved in."