A reformed addict has avoided jail despite going on the run after getting caught bagging up drugs in a cannabis factory.

Basharat Hussain was busted when police raided premises at Granby Flats in Paddock on January 29, 2015.

The 31-year-old had answered the door to police and when they came in, they found £960 worth of heroin, £530 worth of cocaine and £780 worth of cannabis in the flat.

Hussain, of William Street in Crosland Moor, was arrested along with two other males.

The two men were found guilty following a trial and received a community order and a suspended sentence.

Hussain had pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply, namely heroin and cocaine, and one count of possession of a class B drug with intent to supply, namely cannabis.

Hussain was due to be sentenced, but he did not attend and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

He moved to Scotland and when he returned to West Yorkshire late last year, he was arrested again.

Prosecutor Maryam Ahmad told Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday that he got involved in drugs during his parents’ separation.

She said: “His life spiralled out of control due to alcohol and drug misuse.”

Andrew Dallas, defending, said that his client got onto drugs when a five-year relationship came to an end and a close friend died of cancer, adding: “By January 2015, he was as low as it gets.”

He said that Hussain became addicted to crack cocaine and heroin and was spending around £250-£300 per week on drugs. So he was put to work on a ‘bagging operation’ and was doing enough to earn his next fix.

He said: “This is one of those people at the bottom end of this very corrosive trade in order to service his own addiction.”

Sentencing him to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, Judge Sally Cahill QC said: “This debt to society is best paid by trying to keep you out of an environment where drugs are available.”

Hussain, who has two previous convictions for possessing a class A drug and possessing a blade, was also ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work and to pay the statutory surcharge.