A MAN who tried to swallow eight wraps of heroin fell unconscious as police tried to dislodge the drug from his mouth.

David Boorer was caught with the class A drug in Wisbech on New Year’s Eve, and had tried to run away from police before putting the deadly package into his mouth.

Prosecutor Scheherazade Haque told Fenland magistrates: “Officers tried to restrain him, and he tried to swallow the package.

“Officers dislodged it from his throat, he lost consciousness in his effort to swallow the drugs.

“He told police he had felt particularly depressed, and he felt the need to purchase drugs.”

Boorer, 41, of Octavia Close, Wisbech, admitted possessing heroin on December 31. He also admitted driving a vehicle when unfit through drugs on November 20 last year, taking his girlfriend’s car without consent, and driving the car without insurance or a licence.

On November 20 he had collided with a car and reversed into bollards, said Miss Haque. A urine test taken after the incident showed he had recently used cocaine.

Mitigating, Roger Glazebrook said the heroin that Boorer had put in his mouth had been for his own use.

“Police held him by the throat and that is how he lost consciousness,” he explained.

Boorer was given a three month curfew order, keeping him indoors between 7pm and 7am, and he was banned from driving for 12 months. The court ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs, and ordered Boorer to pay �85 costs.