TWO detectives posed as drug users in an undercover operation to track down pushers in Kidderminster.

The pair were given the mobile telephone number of a supplier named Jeanette but when they tried to contact her, Mark Guest answered, Worcester Crown Court was told.

The officers - codenamed Mark and Ann - met Guest on Tuesday, March 13 and Wednesday, March 14 this year and on each occasion they were able to buy £10 wraps of heroin from him.

Guest, aged 23, who admitted supplying the drug, was jailed for two-and-a-half years. He also admitted the breach of a deferred sentence imposed for possessing heroin.

Judge Richard Rundell ordered that £250 seized from Guest should go towards prosecution costs.

William Rickarby, prosecuting, said the meetings with Guest were videoed and tape-recorded.

On the second day, he still had marked notes given to him during the first purchase of heroin. He refused to be interviewed when taken to the police station.

The deferred sentence referred to a search made of a flat in Comberton Hill, Kidderminster, when police found heroin wraps in his trouser pocket. He told police that he was an addict.

Guest, of Plane Tree Close, Kidderminster, had 22 court appearances involving 57 offences but only one was for drugs, said Mr Rickarby.

Jeremy Wright, defending, said Guest realised he needed help to get off drugs but was arrested a fortnight before his appointment with the community drugs team.

The father-of-two was now off drugs and, while on remand in prison, had obtained a community sports leader award.

Judge Rundell told Guest he had failed to take the chance offered last year when he was given the deferred sentence.

His conduct had gone from bad to worse in that he had moved from possessing drugs to supplying them.