A HEROIN dealer who was living in “the most squalid conditions” was busted after he was caught shoplifting from Boots and driving a car that wasn’t his.

Police identified Christopher Brockway making off with more than £500-worth of items from Boots in Pembroke Dock on February 11, prosecutor Regan Walters told Swansea Crown Court.

Later that day, a Vauxhall Insignia was stopped in the Burton area. Brockway was the driver, but it was not his car and he didn’t have a licence or insurance.

Officers found a bag of 7.84 grams of white powder in a plastic bag in the centre console, which was later confirmed to be bicarbonate of soda.

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Police searched Brockway’s home address on Church Street in Pembroke Dock. One officer described the property as being the most “unkempt state” they had seen in their 26 years in policing.

Inside each room were used syringes, sharps, rotting food, and bottles of urine, Mr Walters said.

The officers found 18.5 grams of heroin of 14 per cent purity, as well as morphine, cannabis, and £2,260 in cash stuffed inside a sofa cushion, and a set of weighing scales.

In interview, Brockway disputed the amount of heroin which had been found, and claimed it was for his own personal use. He said the cash was savings intended for his daughter’s birthday, and that the weighing scales were so “he was not ripped off” when buying drugs.

The heroin had a street value of £2,310, Mr Walters said.

The court heard that 44-year-old Brockway had 71 convictions for 179 offences, including a previous offence of being concerned in the supply of heroin.

He admitted driving without a licence or insurance, cannabis possession, shoplifting, and criminal damage – relating to him throwing coffee and food around his police cell – at the magistrates’ court, before admitting possession with intent to supply heroin on the day his trial was due to begin.

David Singh, in mitigation, said: “Mr Brockway is realistic about his position. He appreciates an immediate term of imprisonment is inevitable.

“For 20 years this defendant has battled a heroin addiction. His offending is closely linked to his dependency.”

Mr Singh said Brockway had been drug-free for “four to five months” and was “prepared to tackle the root cause” of his offending.

“It’s a mugs game, and you know it is,” Judge Geraint Walters said, addressing Brockway.

“It’s a drug that ultimately destroys lives.

“You were living in perhaps the most squalid conditions they had ever seen.”

Brockway was sentenced to four years in prison, and was banned from driving for two-and-a-half years.

Judge Walters ordered that the cash seized was to be used by Dyfed-Powys Police in their work combatting drugs.