A JUDGE rejected a suspended sentence recommendation for a drugs offender because it would be "setting him up for a fall''.

Ben Dunn, 28, had been arrested in the loft of his Southampton home where a police officer spotted a piece of file that indicated drugs use.

When he was searched, he was found with a bag containing 12 wraps of heroin with a street value of about £300.

He told police his life was in a mess and asked to be sent to prison immediately but claimed he had only supplied friends. Prosecutor Sarah Dineley told the city Crown Court how on an unrelated occasion Dunn had broken into a car parked outside a tennis club where he stole a wallet and CDs.

The police also recovered from him a stolen passport and a small amount of heroin. The court was told how the passport had been stolen from a bag during a fracas at a pub and was found with Dunn's face "plastered'' all over it.

Dunn, of Selborne Walk, Harefield, admitted possessing heroin with intent to supply, possessing heroin and a false passport, as well as theft and was jailed for three years.

Asking for a suspended sentence to be imposed, Mark Ashley, in mitigation, said when Dunn was released from prison in 2003 his life went downhill and he became involved in class A drugs.

Mr Ashley added: "He has now reached a turning point in his life and those instructing me have seen a huge change since he has been in custody.

"I am asking you to take a leap of faith.''