A JUDGE has jailed a Carlisle heroin addict who was caught by police with six grams of the drug hidden up his bum.

At the city’s crown court, Lee Kerr, 34, admitted two counts of possessing the Class A drug and one allegation of money laundering - by storing almost £4,000 in criminal cash in his bedroom.

Prosecutor Roger Brown outlined how on January 12 this year police were alerted to reports of drug taking in Warnell Drive, Carlisle, where the defendant was living. Officers quickly spotted the defendant getting into a car and driving away.

When they caught up with Kerr, they searched him and found that he was carrying more than £2,827 - money which was seized. Mr Brown said the officers took Kerr to Carlisle’s Durranhill Police HQ, suspecting that he had hidden drugs in his anus.

It was at 2am the following morning that Kerr finally admitted to a police constable that he was hiding his stash of drugs inside his body. “It was six grams [of heroin] in a package, worth £300,” said the prosecutor.

Granted bail, the defendant was then released.

But on March 31, police went to his home, finding Kerr in his bedroom. They found a piece of foil, with multiple black lines across it - the remains of burned heroin which the defendant had just smoked.

When the officers searched the bedroom they found a box in which Kerr had hidden £3,765 in cash. When interviewed about this, he refused to comment but he later pleaded guilty to possessing criminal property.

Also hidden in the box were a pair of latex gloves, other drugs paraphernalia and a small quantity of heroin.

Timothy Ashmole, defending, said at the time of his offending the defendant was a heroin addict who was living with his mother.

But since being remanded into custody he had managed to stop taking the drug and he now aimed to turn his back on drug taking.

“He intends to stay off it,” said the barrister, adding that Kerr had been storing the money for another person.

The court heard that Kerr’s criminal record consists of 29 previous offences, of which 11 relate to illicit drugs.

Recorder Andrew Nuttall told the defendant: “You have been in this position before.”

The judge noted that the money-laundering offence was committed while the defendant was on bail for the earlier offence, and this aggravated the offending, as did his previous offending.

Kerr will serve half of his sentence in prison and the remainder on licence, when he will be at risk of recall to finish the one year.