A FORMER school friend of a female heroin dealer was convicted by a jury of a plot to supply the drug to addicts.

Christopher Dobbins, of Kidderminster, who has already served a four-year jail term for heroin trafficking, was warned at Worcester Crown Court to expect "a very substantial" prison sentence by Judge Andrew Geddes for the plot to supply in Worcester.

The judge remanded him in custody, along with 27-year-old Joanne Bridgewater, who ran the drug den from a flat in Cole Hill.

A third defendant, Najeebullah Ahmadzai - Bridgewater's husband - was cleared at the end of the three-week trial.

The trio had been charged with conspiring to supply heroin.

Bridgewater, of Birch Avenue, Worcester, pleaded guilty before the trial began. She also has a previous conviction for heroin pushing.

The jury of eight women and four men took nearly five hours to convict 29-year-old Dobbins, formerly of Somerville Road, Worcester.

Scott Miller, 27, of Brickfields Road, Worcester, pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine to Bridgewater.

Miller was granted bail.

The judge will pass sentence next month after reports on the defendants are completed.

Worcester Crown Court heard police put the flat under secret surveillance during Operation Grapple and filmed a stream of addicts visiting it for their supplies.

Prosecutor David Iles said Bridgewater "pulled the strings" and Dobbins - who was said to be infatuated with her - "did her bidding".

When police raided the flat on February 22 last year, Dobbins was seen standing by a customer's car with a white package before running into the flat to escape from a detective.

He and Bridgewater were arrested inside the flat above a shop after police forced in a bolted door.

Addict, Gary Haddock, a security guard, told the jury Dobbins had handed him drugs on behalf of Bridgewater.

Dobbins, now of Jubilee Drive, Kidderminster, claimed police promised to help him if he gave evidence against Bridgewater but he refused.

He insisted the only business he was involved in was selling DVDs for cash.

A drug addict himself, Dobbins often visited the flat but maintained he got heroin elsewhere.

He said Bridgewater explained callers came for "social reasons" and said he had no idea she was dealing drugs.

He earned up to £300 a week as a manual worker for an agency and did not need dealing to fund his addiction.

Mr Ahmadzai, 38, of Cherwell Close, Worcester, came to Britain from Afghanistan as an asylum seeker, marrying Bridgewater at a city register office in 2004.

He also maintained he had no knowledge of her heroin pushing. They lived in separate rooms after falling out.

The prosecutor alleged that Mr Ahmadzai had become so concerned about his wife's drug activities that he sought advice from a former city mayor.