A drug dealer who faced three different cases for selling crack cocaine and heroin in three successive years told a judge he was sorry for what he had done.

In a letter to Judge Peter Crabtree, Jason Stiggers said he had time to reflect since being locked up on remand since October.

“I understand in any circumstances it’s unacceptable to do what I have done. I take full responsibility for my actions,” he said, adding that it truly saddened him to think about the impact of his dealing on addicts and his loved ones.

Swindon Crown Court heard the 22-year-old had developed a significant drug debt in his teens. He was offered a chance to work off the debt by gangsters.

It was this that led him into working for the Alex County Line in 2017. The gang leaders were based in London and Essex but peddling drugs in Swindon.

He was involved in the conspiracy from around April to his arrest in June that year. Video found on another dealer’s phone showed him selling drugs in an alleyway.

He had been on the phone to others involved in the conspiracy when, on June 6, drugs squad officers came to arrest him. He tried to jettison five wraps of crack cocaine and five wraps of heroin from a window. Inside the house were a mobile phone, sim cards, a baseball bat and a crossbow.

Other members of the Alex line were jailed for a total of 23-and-a-half years by Judge Peter Crabtree last December. He sentenced on the basis that the conspiracy had dealt around 2.6 kilos of heroin and crack cocaine, typically worth around £260,000 on the street.

A year later, on June 30, Stiggers was stopped in Buckhurst Field, Walcot, by police. They searched him and found wraps of crack cocaine and heroin along with an extendable police-style baton. His mobile phone showed messages suggesting he was again running drugs.

In Spring 2019, he was caught in an undercover police operation that saw officers pose as addicts to buy heroin and crack cocaine.

On May 3, Stiggers took teen Jacob Wyness with him to meet one of those officers, named in court as Steve, on Broad Street in Broadgreen. He fished out a number of wraps from a larger bag, handing them to Wyness who gave them to the officer.

Stiggers, formerly of Beaulieu Close, Toothill, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin, possession with intent to supply the same two drugs, possession of an offensive weapon, being concerned in the supply of class A drugs, breach of bail and breach of a magistrates’ court community order.

Peter Pride, defending, said his client had been drawn further into the trade after developing a significant drugs debt – said to have stood at £1,000 for cannabis alone. “Every time he was arrested or drugs seized from him he would then be – I use the words carefully – not acting under duress, but there was some considerable pressure from those above him who were instructing him to sell drugs on their behalf.”

He was young, just 19 during the conspiracy, but was remorseful and was putting his time behind bars to good use. He had had a difficult upbringing.

Judge Peter Crabtree jailed him for six years and one month.