A drug dealer whose father died from an overdose when he was just 13 has been given a chance to turn his life around.

Stuart Webb,, 27 was caught with heroin twice within a few days as he funded his own habit by trading in the deadly substance.

But after hearing that Webb now has a child of his own and is being supported by his girlfriend's family a judge imposed a suspended sentence.

Webb was first arrested on Sunday, February 10, last year after police raided an address in Calne where he was living.

He was in bed in a room littered with drugs paraphernalia including three wraps of brown powder which turned out to be £410 worth of heroin.

Officers also seized mobile phones and £155 in cash but eight days later police close to the same address saw a man leaving. They stopped him and found he had two wraps of the drug so went in to the house and again arrested Webb.

As well as more cash and a wrap of heroin he also had three mobile phones which were littered with references to dealing.

Webb. of Harts Close, Calne, admitted possession with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of class-A drugs.

Michael Hall, defending, said his client, despite having 19 pages of previous convictions, was not a typical drug addict.

"He is a young man of 27 and he has left school with ten GCSEs. He has got a brain and he has, speaking to his mother in law, a great deal of compassion," he said.

"But he has had the misfortune of having a very unfortunate upbringing which is so often the case when one sees addiction to class-A drugs.

"His father died when he was 13 which he struggled to come to terms with if indeed he has. His father died of a drugs overdose."

He said the matters he was before the court for took place 18-months-ago and the last of his 49 previous convictions was now more than two years old.

Mr Hall said that he had received a back payment of wages and used to it buy drugs in bulk and sell some on.

He said he was now living with Lesley Betts, the mother of his partner, after he had a child with her daughter.

She gave evidence to the court saying that parenthood had given him something to keep him on the straight and narrow and wanted drug rehabilitation support.

Passing sentence Recorder Ian Lawrie QC said: "It would be easy to lock him up, we'll give him a chance. If he fails he knows what is going to happen."

He imposed a two-year jail term suspended for 18 months with a 12-month supervision order and six-month drug rehabilitation requirement.