Jailed: Man, 40, sold heroin on the streets

Mold Crown Court heard that Mark Schofield appreciated the harm caused by the dangerous Class A drug.

His partner had sadly taken her own life based in many respects on her own use of drugs, his barrister Owen Edwards explained.

He knew he had to give up taking heroin or it would take his own life.

Schofield had been able to do so on occasions but the memory of those who had passed away at particular times of the year led him to return to his addiction, Mr Edwards said.

Schofield, 40, of Heol y Coleg in Vaynor, Newtown, admitted possessing heroin with intent to supply both in September 2015 and March of last year - the second while on bail for the first.

Judge Niclas Parry warned him that the sentence could have been longer.

But he said he would serve the two sentences of four-and-a-half years concurrently.

The judge said that the defendant had been caught in the act, peddling the most harmful Class A drug.

He was dealing in a part of Wales that suffered badly from the misery caused by heroin.

On that occasion he was found with drugs valued at some £500 and he had a similar amount of cash on him - a man who lived on benefits.

"You are clearly a street dealer," he said.

While on bail Schofield travelled to the North West of England to buy drugs and returned to Mid Wales intending to distribute them.

Again he had drugs valued at £500 and a similar amount in cash.

The judge said Schofield was a man with an appalling criminal record but he had no previous convictions for drugs supply.

Judge Parry ordered that just over £1,000 should be confiscated under The Proceeds of Crime Act and he made a destruction order for the recovered drugs.

Probation officer Tracey Flavell told the court that the defendant accepted full responsibility.

He was buying drugs in bulk to fund his own use.

The defendant had periods of abstinence, she explained, but he returned to drug use when dealing with emotional difficulties.