A DRUG dealer responsible for York Police's biggest ever heroin seizure has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Carl Russell Anson, 44, hid a kilo of heroin in undergrowth, fields and gardens as he made at least 30 trips to York city, prosecutor Khadim Al'hassan told the city's crown court.

But undercover police using sniffer dogs were tracking his heroin runs and arrested him. They found 935.91g of the drug.

"You were in effect caught red-handed and you would not have stood a chance if you had tried to wriggle out of it before a jury," the honorary recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, told Anson.

"In my judgement, you played a significant role in the supplying and bagging for distribution and the recruiting of Flint (a York heroin user) to assist in what was a very large amount of drugs indeed.

"There must be a very substantial sentence to drive home the point both to you, and others that may be like-minded, that involvement in substantial quantities of pernicious class A drugs will not be tolerated."

Superintendent Steve Barlow, former head of CID and current operations commander in York, said it should be a warning to all.

"If you are dealing in drugs, you can expect to find you front door coming in," he said.

The prosecution put the total value of the drug at £180,000.

Anson's barrister, Paul Greaney, said the value was nearer £27,000, as the heroin recovered was equivalent to 274.56g of 100 per cent purity heroin.

Anson, of Morley, Leeds, and Nigel Stewart Flint, 30, of Poppleton Gatehouse, Millgate, York, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin.

Anson was jailed for six-and-a-half years.

At earlier hearings, Flint was jailed for three-and-a-half years and Flint's girlfriend, Louisa Jo Novis, 24, of Rougier Street, York, was jailed for six months after admitting possession of heroin and failure to attend court.

Mr Greaney said Anson had only got involved in heroin dealing under pressure from men who had stolen his property and assaulted him and his wife.

And he quoted police evidence that he said supported Anson's claims.

Mr Al'hassan pointed out the alleged assaults and thefts occurred in 1998 and 1999, and the heroin dealing was in 2000.

Mr Greaney said that Anson had not delivered large amounts of the drug to Flint on a regular basis. His role in the conspiracy had been to take drugs from the countryside stashes for Flint to bag up before they were passed on to York area drug users.

Updated: 12:09 Tuesday, April 23, 2002