A heroin dealer whose home was raided by police four times in less than a year has been jailed for six-and-a-half years. 

Police visited Ashli Taylor, 27, at two separate addresses in Workington between April, 2015, and March this year. 

On each occasion they found illegal drugs including heroin and cannabis. Large sums of cash were was also found in Taylor's possession, along with mobile phones. 

These devices contained damning evidence of his criminal activity. 

Carlisle Crown Court heard Taylor was first exposed to illicit substances when he was given cocaine at the age of just 11.

Since then he had accumulated 55 offences on a criminal record as he battled a "massive" addiction. 

Having pleaded guilty to 10 separate charges, including four drugs supply crimes, he was sentenced today by Judge Peter Davies. 

Handing down the prison term, Judge Davies told Taylor, of Casson Road, Workington, he had engaged in the "persistent trade" of heroin.