A MAN who allowed his family’s antique-furnished Worcester bungalow to be used as a base in the trade of around £70,000 of drugs has been jailed for two years.

Mark Burnham, aged 54, now of Laburnum Walk, Upton-upon-Severn, had been a heroin user since 1992 and had built up debts, which he then tried to pay off by providing a taxi service to take drugs around Worcester, the court heard.

He appeared before Worcester Crown Court with Rashid Sadiq, 41, of Albert Road, Aston, Birmingham, and both admitted conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

Sadiq, a father-of-five, whose wife had died from breast cancer, was jailed for three years and both men were told by Judge Robert Juckes QC that they would serve half their sentences and the rest would be spent out on licence.

Another man who admitted the same charge – Itsham Razaq, 24, of Wood Lane, Handsworth Wood, Birmingham - is due to be sentenced on Tuesday.

The court had heard that Sadiq and Razaq would bring heroin and cocaine from Birmingham in taxis and hire cars and set up a base at Burnham’s then home in Cromwell Crescent, Redhill, Worcester, which had belonged to his late parents.

Over the course of 89 days from April last year, it was estimated that they had dealt a total of £70,000 worth of drugs in a “sophisticated” operation, said Siobhan Collins, prosecuting.

Sadiq and Razaq had made “tens of thousands” of contacts, mainly with known drug users from the Worcester area, during that time.

They would meet at Burnham’s Cromwell Crescent house and Burnham would use his car to make deliveries.

Belinda Ariss (correct), defending Burnham, said he had cared for his alcoholic father at the bungalow, until his death in 2011, and then for his mother, who died in 2013.

She described Burnham as “vulnerable”, saying he agreed to pay off his debts and get more drugs for himself by providing a taxi driving service from his home.

He had, before his arrest, also been drinking up to two and a half bottles of vodka a day.

Miss Ariss said it had been a large bungalow with a tree-lined drive and it was “beautifully furnished” with his parents’ antiques.

The bungalow had now been sold by Burnham’s brother.

Probation officer Ignatius Concannon (correct) told the court that Sadiq had been left looking after his five children, aged two to 15, after his wife died and he got involved in drug dealing after getting into financial difficulty.

Judge Juckes told Sadiq: “We see a lot of these cases in Worcester.

“The people at the top – they use and expose to risk other people lower down the scale.

“You were involved in the movement of drugs from Birmingham to Worcester.

“You helped to establish the safe house at Cromwell Crescent.”