A MAN who killed a Herefordshire mother-of-two by injecting her with heroin has been jailed for five years.

Laura Jennings, the 22-year-old victim, was already four times over the alcohol limit for driving, when she begged Jason Powell for the drug.

She complained that the first injection he gave her hadn't "touched" her but, after a second jab, her veins collapsed, she fell down and turned blue, Worcester Crown Court heard.

A pathologist concluded that Miss Jennings died from morphine and alcohol poisoning, said prosecutor Jonathan Attwood.

Struggled

Powell, aged 30, of The Plough Inn, Walford Road, Ross-on-Wye, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and supplying heroin on March 21 this year.

Judge Michael Mott told Powell he had used his knowledge of the local drug scene to get the victim heroin, adding: "You knew it was more risky when she had taken a lot of alcohol."

Miss Jennings had known the defendant for six years and there was a suggestion he was sexually attracted to her, said Mr Attwood. Both of them abused drugs and she had struggled with an alcohol dependency.

The victim's boyfriend Andrew Lawrence did not approve of her taking heroin. She had overdosed three or four times in the past.

The day before Miss Jennings died, she bought vodka and strong lager with her benefit cheque. A row blew up after she knocked over a TV set while drunk and her boyfriend slapped her.

While he was out seeing friends, Miss Jennings left her flat - also in Walford Road, Ross - and went to another flat in the town where she tried to get drugs and failed.

Solution

She stayed overnight and by 11.30am next day she was drunk on cider and beer and called a taxi to take her to Powell's flat.

She paid him £9 to buy her a heroin deal. The dealer was later jailed for four years.

Powell made up a solution of the drug using vinegar and injected her twice.

After she collapsed he called an ambulance in panic. But at 2.30pm she was declared dead.

At first Powell told police: "I showed her where to do it." But troubled by her death, he confessed he had injected her.

Timothy Evans, defending, said: "He never intended any harm to this young lady. He was simply giving in to her repeated requests for the drugs she craved. He foolishly went along with it."

He said the defendant - who had one drugs caution - was a mild-mannered man who had made no secret of his deep remorse.

The victim's parents, John and Rebecca Jennings, were in court to see their daughter's killer jailed.