A MAN took heroin and crack cocaine to relieve his serious back pain heard Skipton Magistrates Court.

Alex Horsfield, 22, had tried prescription drugs to help combat pain caused by a slipped disc and crushed vertebra before turning to Class A drugs, the court heard today (Friday).

On duty police officers stopped a car with Horsfield in it on March 13.

Both the car and Horsfield were searched, and at Skipton Police Station, officers found on Horsfield 13 wraps of crack cocaine and 10 wraps of heroin, the court was told.

Prosecuting, Melanie Ibbotson said Horsfield was interviewed by police and asked several questions, but that he declined to answer all of them.

Of previous good character, at court, he admitted to two charges of being in possession of a Class A drug at Skipton Police Station.

In mitigation, Mohammed Hussain said he had warned Horsfield about taking Class A drugs, telling him that he would become addicted and his life would spiral out of control, as he had seen many times before.

Horsfield, he said, had a significant disability and had been in excruciating pain with his back for seven years.

He had been foolishly advised that Class A drugs would help where prescription drugs had failed and had bought them in bulk to relieve the pain caused by a slipped disc and a crushed vertebra.

Mr Hussain added being arrested and taken to the police station had put the ‘fear of God’ into his client and pointed out, had he co operated with police at the time, he would probably have been given a caution and not had to appear in court.

Horsfield, of Ingrow Lane, Keighley, who appeared in court on crutches, was fined £80. He will also have to pay costs of £85 and a surcharge of £30. Magistrates ordered the drugs to be forfeited and destroyed.