A drug dealer said to be facing a rapid death unless he beats his own addiction has been jailed for three years.

Keith Cranley, 32, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, was described as playing a significant role in street-dealing.

At the time of his arrest in June last year, police found 3.93g of cocaine divided into 10 packages, as well as 115g of skunk cannabis.

There were also 29 messages between himself and his suppliers and customers made on his mobile in the previous 24 hours.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that he resorted to dealing to fund his own habit.

Daniel Benjamin, defending, said he was now feeling the impact it was having on his health. He said: “He realises unless he changes he will die, rapidly, as a result of his cocaine addiction.”

Cranley, of Baden Road, Gillingham, admitted possessing cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply.

He had no previous convictions but the court was told police found the drugs in his bedroom after they went to his home to arrest him in relation to another matter.

"He hopes to come out of custody a very different man to how he is now" - Daniel Benjamin, defending

Mr Benjamin also told the court that despite his mental health problems, Cranley had a “significant” work ethic and had actively sought employment, setting himself as a landscape gardener, but had been told by the benefits agency he was not fit to work.

“He doesn’t want to continue his life on benefits as it has been,” he said.

“He wants to engage in proper, full-time employment. But sadly it was his living on benefits and his own addiction which led to him supplying.

"He hopes to come out of custody a very different man to how he is now.”

Jailing Cranley, Judge Jeremy Carey said it was down to him to make his own choices in life.

He said: “You should know, and you are an intelligent man, that addiction to drugs is potentially devastatingly harmful to you.”