A JUDGE spoke of the huge cost of drug addiction when he jailed a dealer for three-and-a-half years.

Judge Warwick McKinnon said latest figures showed that drug misuse cost the country £18.8 billion a year in crime, victims and sickness.

"There are 270,000 regular users of heroin and 120,000 regular users of crack cocaine," he said. "Heroin addicts spent an average £16,500 on drugs.

"Most of it is obtained by turning to acquisitive crime. All that apart from the number of deaths attributed to drug abuse."

Francis, who was caught in a undercover police operation, was convicted at Maidstone Crown Court last month of two charges of supplying heroin and crack cocaine and two of being concerned in supplying the drugs.

Tetteh Turkson, prosecuting, said Francis supplied the drugs himself and used a woman to hand them out.

Undercover officers called a woman on January 13 and she said she would introduce them to someone who could supply them with drugs.

They then went to a park in Vines Lane, Rochester. Roy met the man, who turned out to be Francis. He gave two wraps of drugs, one of heroin, one of cocaine, to the woman. She passed them to Roy.

A detective saw Francis go to a VW Passat car. He later saw the car again and watched for over an hour. He saw a number of people going to and from the car.

Police officers later spoke to the driver, who was Francis. They took a Polaroid photo of him for identification and checked it against their files.

Mr Turkson said on January 15, Roy made a phone call to the same number. The man on the other end was wary. Roy asked about drugs and was told to go to Safeways supermarket.

When he arrived he saw the same man who had previously been in the car. Money was given to the woman and she handed over drugs.

Neville Willard, defending, said the 34-year-old father, of Kennington, South East London, was married to a nurse and the future was going to be difficult for her and their son.

"He is a family man who is experiencing for the first time prison life," he said. "However one looks at this whole affair, it has been a catastrophe for him and his family.

"That is his fault. I don’t expect or seek much sympathy for him. But he is not the only person in the equation. I ask for a degree of mercy for his wife and son."

Judge McKinnon told Francis that the proliferation of Class A drugs was a scourge on society. "It undermines the whole fabric of society and brings misery and suffering," he said.

"That is why it is considered so grave by the courts. Why on earth a man of your age and background should turn to supplying drugs is a complete mystery. You come from a good, respectable family."

The judge added that the starting point for such offences was five years but he was prepared to show some mercy.