A DRUG courier dropping off heroin concealed in a Kinder egg was caught by police, a court heard.

Heroin user Martin Hardy was twice beaten up by dealers after failing to pay his £2,500 drug debt. Eventually they recruited him as a courier whose jobs included secreting heroin in a Kinder egg behind a certain bin in Ashford Road, Lipson Vale, for collection later by someone else.

Prosecutor Barry White said that on April 3 last year, police received a call tipping them off to drug-dealing activity.

A man was seen by police passing objects to people in cars.

Officers stopped one of the cars, driven by Hardy, and found a Kinder egg containing nine wraps of heroin weighing 1.43 grammes and with a purity of around 24 per cent.

He was spotted trying to hide another batch of heroin, weighing 3.33 grammes, down the back of his trousers. The total street value of the haul was nearly £500.

Hardy, aged 28 and from Parkside, Keyham, had previous convictions for possession of heroin and cannabis in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009, Mr White said.

In mitigation, it was said that some of the heroin was for Hardy's personal use.

He had made good progress on a drug rehabilitation programme and wanted to leave drugs behind, having recently become a father.

Judge Francis Gilbert QC said Hardy had admitted being in possession of a class A drug with intent to supply, and acknowledged he had been acting as a runner to pay off a drug debt, but jailed him for three years.