A HEROIN addict now has "two deaths on his conscience" after buying drugs for his stepbrother, who was later found dead.
He already had a manslaughter conviction following the death of a woman in 2002 after he injected her with drugs, a court heard.
Peter Loche, 42, of Thesiger Street, Grimsby, admitted supplying heroin to Michael Littlewood on June 8.
Gordon Stables, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that an anonymous telephone call, believed to be from Bradley Herron, was received from a kiosk asking for an ambulance to go the home of Mr Littlewood because of a heroin overdose.
Mr Littlewood, 38, of Albion House, Grimsby, was found to be dead but there was nothing suspicious about his death and there was no drug paraphernalia.
Loche later approached a police officer and told him that one of his stepbrother's neighbours had alerted him that Mr Littlewood was dead.
He had been expecting to see his stepbrother at 9am and went to investigate when he did not turn up.
He said that Mr Littlewood, an alcoholic, had given him some money and asked him to buy heroin for him. Loche admitted he had done so.
A post mortem revealed that the cause of Mr Littlewood's death was inhaling stomach contents, but other factors were heroin and alcohol abuse as well as heart disease.
Loche had a conviction for manslaughter, involving the death of a 40-year-old woman in July 2002.
He had helped make up a syringe of what they believed was heroin to inject into her arm.
She fell backwards and was unconscious for about two hours. Loche tried to rouse her without success.
He was jailed at York Crown Court for four years in January 2003.
Mitigating, Charlotte Baines said that, in the case of Mr Littlewood, Loche did not administer the drugs to his stepbrother but did arrange the supply of them.
He volunteered to the police what had happened.
"He has been blaming himself for what happened," said Miss Baines.
"He has to live with that for the rest of his life. Now he is having to deal with two deaths on his conscience.
"When one involves yourself with Class A drugs, that's the risk one takes."
Loche had reduced his own heroin use and was on methadone.
Recorder Taryn Turner told Loche that he, of all people, given his history and the fact that he had seen someone die because of heroin, should have known what the drug could do to someone.
"Drugs wreak havoc on people's lives," she said. "They destroy their personalities and they destroy their futures."
Loche was jailed for 15 months.
