A drug dealer who spent his inheritance on drugs has pledged to turn his life around after a judge gave him a suspended prison sentence.

Forty-nine-year-old Matthew Berridge told Judge Emma Peters at Ipswich Crown Court that he’d been a drug addict for 30 years and had spent money left to him by his father on drugs.

“I’m nearly 50 and want to turn my life around,” said Berridge, of Bridge Street, Halesworth.

He admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine, amphetamine and ketamine and possessing cocaine and amphetamine.

Berridge was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years, a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement and an 18-month drug rehabilitation order.

He was also given a six-month trail monitoring requirement, which Judge Peters said would allow the police and authorities to check on his whereabouts and stop him being drawn back into the world of drugs.

She warned Berridge that if he breached the terms of the suspended sentence order he was likely to be jailed.

The court heard that police officers who searched Berridge’s flat seized a mobile phone which contained messages relating to the supply of drugs.