A TERMINALLY ill drug dealer has been jailed for sending thousands of pounds worth of heroin on to North Yorkshire's streets.

Robert Edward McLean, 35, and his devoted girlfriend, Debbie Simpson, 37, helped grind and package the drug at their home in Harold Hick Court, Tadcaster, York Crown Court, sitting in Leeds, heard.

Simon Kealey, prosecuting, told the court that fellow gang member Stuart James Harland, 29, then carried the drug from Tadcaster to Selby on his motorcycle.

On March 13, 2004, police swooped and rounded up all three, together with heroin worth £11,500.

Harland later admitted he had transported drugs from the factory to Selby before.

Harland, of Bridle Walk, Selby; terminally ill McLean and Simpson all pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin. Harland also admitted possessing heroin on February 11.

Describing the Tadcaster base as a "processing factory for the distribution of heroin", the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, pictured, jailed both men for four years each and the woman for three at a hearing on Friday.

"I am truly sorry for the circumstances in which you find yourself in terms of your health and I hope that the prison authorities will take that into account," he told McLean.

"But unfortunately for you, this is not your first time in court."

McLean has a previous conviction for possessing amphetamine with intent.

His barrister, Paul Williams, said that since his arrest, surgeons had failed to completely remove a tumour from McLean and that they now believed medicine could only buy him more time, not cure him.

For Simpson, Helen Hendry said McLean had been stoic about his illness, but she had borne the worry, travelling daily to Leeds when he was in hospital and attending all of his medical appointments with him.

Both barristers and John Dunning, for Harland, said their clients had only received heroin as payment for their part in the illegal operation and had either kicked or were kicking their drug habit.

Mr Dunning said Harland was to hide the heroin for another person to collect and distribute.

Mr Kealey said that Harland had flushed heroin down a toilet as police raided a house in Flaxley Road, Selby, on February 11.

The house's occupant, Wayne Anthony Oldfield, 33, was the "central figure" in the case. Oldfield is to be sentenced on Friday after he admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and possessing heroin.

Updated: 10:19 Monday, March 07, 2005