[420 Girl]

Delivering a little extra something along with the daily pinta was all part of the service offered by elderly milkman, Robert Holding.

But instead of the usual orders for extra eggs or a bottle of orange juice some of his customers would make most unusual requests.

For next to the empty milk bottles, Holding would often find a polite handwritten note asking for some cannabis with the next delivery.

So Holding, 72, would place a small bar of the drug into an empty egg box and place it on the doorstep the following morning.

When he was caught by police, Holding told officers he would only ever supply pensioners with the drug to help them with their 'aches and pains.'

Today a judge told the elderly milkman his special delivery service would inevitably lead to a spell behind bars.

Burnley Crown Court heard the elderly milkman only delivered to pensioners on his delivery round who had found out about his extra service by word of mouth.

Just like building a milkround, the grandfather had 17 drug customers who would regularly leave a note asking for cannabis.

Acting on information, police launched an undercover operation and watched the milkman as he delivered milk on his regular round.

They said customers would leave out handwritten notes with their empty milk bottles requesting him to leave the Class C drugs with his next delivery.

Holding then stashed small blocks of cannabis resin in egg boxes which he then left on customers' doorsteps along with their milk.

During an operation lasting several weeks, police watched the defendant before arresting the pensioner at his home in Burnley, Lancashire.

During a search of the house, officers found 167 grams of the Class C drug and he was charged with supplying the drug.

In a police interview Holding accepted he had supplied cannabis resin to 17 households while on his milk delivery round.

Phil Holden, defending, said Holding had built up his home delivery drug-dealing round through word of mouth and only dealt to pensioners.

He said: 'The defendant, in police interview, mentioned who he dealt to. He said it was for elderly people with aches and pains.

'Those who he supplied, and there were not many, were through word of mouth and his customers were all of a certain age.'

Mr Holden said the grandfather supplied a small bar of cannabis to his regular customers every three to four weeks.

Holding appeared in court charged with two counts of supplying and possessing cannabis resin between April 1 and July 18 this year.

Wearing blue jeans and a scruffy dark jersey, an unkempt Holding pleaded guilty to the charges before being warned he faced a prison sentence.

Adjourning the case, Judge Beverley Lunt said Holding, who has previous convictions but none for drug dealing, faced an inevitable jail sentence.

Judge Lunt said: 'You must understand these are serious offences and in my judgment the likely outcome is an immediate custodial sentence.'

The case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report. Holding was released on bail and will be sentenced at Burnley Crown Court on February 6.

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