A RECOVERING heroin addict was forced to buy his first fix of "street gear" in 18 months because he broke his methadone bottle tripping over his pet dog.

Philip Jones had been weaning himself off the Class A drug for a year-and-a-half and had managed to reduce his methadone prescription from 150mg to 60mg in that time.

But his good work went to pot on Tuesday, October 9, when police found a syringe full of brown liquid in his shirt pocket, Kiernan Cunningham, prosecuting, told Droitwich magistrates.

Barry Newton, defending, said Jones had been an addict for years.

"By the mid-to-late 90s, he had acquired a very strong addiction to the evil drug that is heroin but since then has helped himself," he said.

"He knew he couldn't go on using the drug without doing serious and irreparable damage - possibly fatal.

"On that Tuesday he had collected his usual prescription and left the clinic. He went outside into the street and fell over his pet dog. He broke the bottle of methadone and went back to ask for another prescription.

"But they have very strict rules and said no. What he did to get himself through was buy £20 of street gear, to use the vernacular."

Mr Newton urged the bench to give the 36-year-old a conditional discharge - and told them they should congratulate him on his efforts to kick the habit.

"He's an individual that can be patted on the back but sent from this court with the Sword of Damacles hanging over his head," he added.

Jones, of Avon Road, Tolladine, Worcester, admitted possessing heroin but said the clinic's checks proved he had been clean for 18 months.

"I've basically ruined my life," he sobbed. "And I'm doing everything I can to get it back together. I know I shouldn't have bought heroin but I couldn't stand the pain. I didn't have the strength of character not to."

Magistrates gave him a 12-month conditional discharge, told him to pay £60 costs and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the heroin and also the syringes.