A heroin addict was sent to prison for seven years yesterday after importing the drug into Bermuda in his stomach on Christmas Eve.

Dennis Howard Robinson Alick DeSilva apologised to the court and said his last six years of drug addiction had been dark and long.

He told Supreme Court that he had ingested the 11 pellets of heroin, worth $138,000, before boarding the British Airways flight from Gatwick and returning to Bermuda to see his family for the holiday.

He said he had bought it in England for ?1,100 for his personal use, because it was so much cheaper there, and said he had expected it to last him about three weeks.

But the court heard that on arrival in Bermuda, Customs and Police officers searched DeSilva's bags and scanned them, causing him to become outwardly nervous.

They then body-searched him and took him to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for an abdominal X-Ray, where foreign objects were discovered.

The 37-year-old, of Deep Dale West, Pembroke, was then arrested.

DeSilva was kept at the hospital under Police guard, and he excreted the drugs three days later.

He immediately confessed to Police, but said the drugs were for his own use, and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity in court.

Prosecutor Anthony Blackman suggested to Assistant Justice Charles-Etta Simmons that, taking into consideration all of the mitigating factors, DeSilva be given a seven-year prison sentence.

He said heroin was considered particularly dangerous and therefore carried a like sentence to crack cocaine, which is about 50 percent higher than cocaine.

But defence lawyer Larry Scott suggested a sentence between four and seven years, and asked that DeSilva be enrolled on a drug programme in prison.

He said DeSilva had met a woman in Bermuda before Christmas, and they had gone to New York together, before flying to Europe and the UK.

He said DeSilva had merely bought the drugs while in the UK to bring home, and had not made a special trip to England specifically to buy drugs.

Mr. Scott said: "He had only 11 pellets. He was being destructive to himself, as opposed to being destructive to others."

Before being sentenced, DeSilva addressed the court. He said: "First of all, I would like to apologise to my mum and my family (for the worry) that drug addiction has caused.

"I doubt that anybody that is sitting in front of me has walked the walk of a heroin addict. It's one of the longest roads and darkest roads you can get to hell."

He said while in the UK, his heroin addiction "went through the roof like a rocket" because it was so cheap and plentiful, and so he decided to bring some back to Bermuda. But he said he had no intention of selling it to anyone else. However, he said since he had been on remand in prison he managed to kick the drug.

"Never again will I ever be oppressed by anything on this planet. I've got the demon out of my blood and that's worth more than silver and gold," said DeSilva. "I hated it from the moment I knew I was addicted to it, which was six years ago. Whether you believe me or not, I will never turn back to that drug. I apologise for bringing it into your country. I'm finished."

Assistant Justice Simmons said DeSilva had clearly demonstrated that he was aware of the destruction caused by heroin, and was remorseful.

However, she said the fact that he claimed to bring it in for his personal use would not reduce his sentence.

She said the sentence would normally be nine to 12 years, but with all of the mitigating factors, she reduced it to seven, and said he should be enrolled on a drug programme.