A MAN caught dealing heroin and cocaine to fund his 34-year addiction to class A drugs has been jailed for four years.

Michael Holdsworth, 51, was seen by police “street dealing” from cars in the Shipley area in May and July last year.

On the first occasion, he was caught with 18 wraps of heroin and 28 wraps of cocaine, with a value of £311.

When police searched Holdsworth, officers found a “dealer list and a notepad.”

The defendant was released on bail, but was seen again just a few weeks later dealing in a car park on Keighley Road.

This time, police found 28 wraps of heroin and 44 wraps of cocaine, said to be worth a total of £597.

Holdsworth, of Clara Road, Wrose, Bradford, admitted the offences, saying he had been a heroin and cocaine addict for 34 years, with his habit costing up to £60 a day.

He said that in exchange for dealing, he would be given drugs and have £20 a day knocked off his debts.

Bradford Crown Court heard that father-of-three Holdsworth had relapsed in January last year after his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, describing the drugs as his “crutch.”

Judge Jonathan Rose said that class A drugs had a “pernicious and dreadful grip” on those who took them. He told Holdsworth: “You are the epitome of the social consequences of class A drugs. Your circumstances are not exceptional, sadly they are all too common.”