Last updated 16:25, Tuesday, 18 November 2008

A drug addict has been banned from Workington after admitting the latest of 255 offences he has committed during what a judge described as an “appalling” criminal career.

Harry John Nicholson, 36, pleaded guilty at Carlisle Crown Court to possessing 390 diazepam tablets with intent to supply them.

He also admitted possessing a small amount of heroin for his own use.

Nicholson was remanded on bail to live with an aunt in Bothel, near Wigton, while his suitability for drugs rehabilitation is assessed by probation staff. He will be back in court to be sentenced on November 28.

Judge Barbara Forrester said it was “one last chance to stay out of trouble”.

She ordered him to obey any instructions given him by his aunt Margaret Story – a college lecturer described as “an upstanding member of the community” – and to stay out of Workington except when he has to go and see his solicitor.

Nicholson, who used to live in Moorclose, Workington, had previously been banned from all properties owned by the Derwent and Solway housing association following persistent antisocial behaviour and drug-related activities.

That injunction banned him from “engaging or threatening to engage in conduct causing or likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance to any person with a right to visit, reside in or occupy housing accommodation in Moorclose”.

It came after residents and the police complained about his drug related activities.

In court, Judge Forrester warned him that if he did not give up drugs he would kill himself.

“If someone of your age does not take the opportunity to stay off drugs you will never give them up, and your life will be foreshortened,” she said.