Father-of-12 Glen Liversidge (49) had tried to get a job and go on the straight and narrow when he was released from a six-year jail term for supplying heroin. He had even appealed for help to Burnley's MP, Kitty Ussher, the town's crown court heard.

The court was told Liversidge wanted to be a plasterer and, unable to get work, approached a drug dealer and offered his services to raise cash to buy tools. Liversidge, who has lived a life of crime for more than 30 years, collected drugs from Burnley Wood and stashed them behind his home in Garden Street, Padiham.

Police observed him hiding or removing drugs worth between £1,000 and £3,500 a time, at the base of a tree and the wall in a back alley behind his home.

The defendant was jailed for two years after admitting being involved in the supply of amphetamine and vowed it was his last time in the dock.

Miss Silvia Dacre (prosecuting) said police searched a property in Stoney Street, Burnley, and found bulking agents, plastic bags, a blender and traces of amphetamine. The packaging on drugs found in the wall matched like a jigsaw with cut-up bags in Stoney Street.

Mr Mark Stuart (defending) said Liversidge had been acting for a drug dealer and was never seen supplying.

The defendant had been determined to move away from his life of crime after he was last released from custody. He had realised others in prison were younger than him and his offending had to stop.

The barrister said that since the offence the defendant had found work and, probably for the first time, over a concentrated period of time earned cash legitimately and was good at his job. He added: "The defendant now gets as much as a buzz out of plastering as he did being involved with drugs."