A heroin addict who went on a $90,000-plus burglary spree amid grief at the death of his son gave a heartfelt address to Magistrates? Court.

Stephen Andre Wilson ? who was found with a pre-written confession after his arrest ? used his court appearance to hit out at what he claimed were delays in treatment for those battling addiction.

The 46-year-old appeared before Senior Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo on Monday and pleaded guilty to a total of 26 burglary and fraud offences.

The charges included ten dwelling burglaries, committed in Smith?s, Pembroke and Sandys. Among the items in the haul he netted between July 27 and August 22 were gold jewellery, cameras and a child?s knapsack, plus cash and a number of Bank of Butterfield cheques. In a burglary at the Cycle Care store in Pembroke on August 6, he stole more than $41,000 worth of goods including helmets, mufflers and crankshafts.

Wilson, of no fixed address, also faced theft charges and counts of presenting false Bank of Butterfield cheques at locations including Shelly Bay Pizza House, A1 Supermarket, Bermuda Paint company, All Talk and Heron Bay Market Place in a bid to induce people to accept them as genuine.

Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney told the court Wilson was arrested last week, and found to have a document entitled ?A serious confession by Andre Wilson in crimes of breaking entering and forgery? penned by him. He admitted all the offences during an interview.

Addressing Mr. Tokunbo, Wilson said he had battled heroin for the past 20 years but that when he left jail in May 2004 he had been ?doing very good?. He said he had a close relationship with his 14-year-old son, but in August 2004 the youngster died after a bike crash.

?I cannot even put into words the devastating effect that it had on me, and still has on me,? he said. ?I don?t want you for a minute to think that I?m using that as an excuse for my actions... my actions were devious and just plan wicked.?

But he added: ?Subsequently I took the easy way out of dealing with the pain I suffer. He was my only child and I lived for him. Everything I did, I did for him.?

Wilson explained that after beginning to numb his pain through heroin, he had got to the stage where he could not function without it. ?I just ended up spinning into a downward spiral. Unfortunately I broke one day and starting committing crime,? he said. ?I still feel I have some good to offer in this life. I don?t feel I?m written off just yet. I would hate for the courts or the system to write me off. It?s kind of easy to send me to jail and throw away the key.?

He said he would make every effort to assist Police to recover the stolen property and made a public apology to his victims.

?I realise that just because I took a material item, it?s not just the item but the sense of security that they lose from someone like me being in their home,? he said.

And he added: ?What blows my mind is that in Bermuda in 2006 everyone knows we have a problem with drugs. There?s no place people like me can walk in off the street and say ?I?m addicted to heroin, can you help me here and now??

?The answer that everyone gets is to come back in six weeks... I believe if someone assisted me with the help I so desperately desired to begin with I would not be here right now.?

Mr. Tokunbo said he empathised with the defendant over the death of his son, but that his record seemed to defy other things he had said. He said Wilson had already been to drug court. ?No one can be helped unless they want help,? he added.

He told the defendant: ?You are not going to pull the wool over my eyes,? adding: ?If you are serious about what you are saying, you can go to Westgate and you can stay clean and help them with things they want to do.?

He adjourned sentencing Wilson until Friday morning and remanded him to custody.

Speaking after the case, Minister for National Drug Control Wayne Perinchief said that people suffering from heroin withdrawal or who have taken an overdose can seek assistance from the Emergency Department, which will give palliative treatment and be able to refer them to the Bermuda Assessment and Referral Centre.

?I don?t believe you would be made to wait six weeks,? he said.

The Minister said he was satisfied that adequate assistance is given to heroin addicts who seek help, but added: ?We are dealing with a difficult problem and seeking to tighten up the system. It?s a work in progress.?