A large-scale drug dealer has been jailed after police raided a £100,000 heroin cutting den in a seaside council flat in Dawlish.

Paul Freeman was caught with a quarter of a kilogram of heroin and enough bulking agents to produce more than three times as much.

Officers estimated the total value of the haul could have been £100,000 if the caffeine and paracetamol had been used to dilute the high strength heroin for street sale.

Freeman told police he was relieved they had uncovered the drugs den in East Cliff Road, Dawlish, and that he needed to go back to jail to get off heroin.

A judge at Exeter Crown Court granted his wish. Freeman, aged 49, admitted possession with intent to supply and was jailed for four years and one month.

The judge told him: ‘When police went to your flat, they found a drug dealing enterprise; something which was being run by you.

‘You seem to have been relieved to have been finally apprehended and told police you were grateful because you needed to go back to prison. That is quite clearly what is going to happen.

‘The quantities represent a quarter kilo of heroin but perhaps significant is the fact that there were cutting or bulking agents which could have processed and reduced the heroin to 16 per cent.’

Mr Rob Yates, prosecuting, said police raided the flat in Charlton House, Dawlish, on June 15 this year and found a box containing heroin in three packages.

The largest was 264.78 grams with a purity of 50 per cent and there were two smaller batches totalling 25 grams at 14 and 16 per cent.

There was also 632.76 grams of caffeine and paracetamol, meaning the main packet of heroin could have been diluted to make 897.54 grams at the lower purity.

There was £2,375 cash and mobile phone messages showed he was supplying street users.

Mr William Parkhill, defending, said Freeman had run his own business but become a drug user when it failed and turned to dealing to fund his habit.

He said he was not cutting heroin or dealing on a large scale and was storing the drugs and money for someone further up the chain of supply.

He said: ‘There was clear evidence of his drug use in the flat, where police found a bong used to smoke heroin. There was nothing about his personal circumstances or finances to suggest he was dealing any anything but a low level.’