A HEROIN addict jailed in 1999 for his part in a £5million drugs ring has died of multi-organ failure - after taking Ecstasy.

Unemployed Malcolm Bloodworth (pictured), 39, when he died, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years on December 17 1999 by Judge William Gaskell, after being convicted of peddling cannabis and amphetamines, along with his three brothers.

Cardiff crown court heard at the time how he had used his drug-dealing to fund his drugs habit.

And an inquest into his death this week heard how he was a known heroin user. On December 15, the hearing at Tredegar was told, he was taken ill at a friend's flat, following a drinking session at a nightclub.

Friends said that Mr Bloodworth, who lived with his parents in the St Dials area of Cwmbran, was semi-conscious for most of the day after the session.

He did not wake until after 3pm and then complained of pains in many parts of his body - and he could not stand up alone.

The next morning, when Mr Bloodworth's breathing turned into panting, a friend called an ambulance and Mr Bloodworth was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport where he died the following day.

A post-mortem examination found he died of hepatic necrosis and multi-organ failure caused by MDMA, or Ecstasy, toxicity.

The inquest heard Mr Bloodworth - a former Fairwater Comprehensive pupil - had been drinking with friends including Robert Salizar on the evening of December 15.

Mr Salizar said they met at a nightclub where Mr Bloodworth had been drinking double shots of Jack Daniels.

Mr Salizar paid £5 for an Ecstasy tablet and consumed it. He said he didn't know if Mr Bloodworth had also taken anything, but added: "I believe he may have done."

They later took a taxi to friend Mark Cole's flat, where they spent the night.

"I woke at 3.30pm and Malcolm was still asleep, he was breathing heavily and sweating from his face and head. I wiped him with a beer mat," he said.

He thought Mr Bloodworth was "still groggy" from their night out.

They also spent the next night at Mr Cole's flat and Mr Salizar woke at 3am, when Mr Bloodworth was moaning about the pain in his legs.

Mr Salizar said he left for his own home shortly afterwards.

Mr Cole, who said he knew Mr Bloodworth as a regular heroin user, stated that at 5am that morning his friend was "complaining loudly" and asked him to call an ambulance. "His breathing became panting and this began to scare me," he said.

He rang for an ambulance at 8am and heard the following day that Mr Bloodworth had died.

Gwent coroner David Bowen said: "I am satisfied that he took the drugs himself. I am also satisfied that he did not take them with the intention of ending his life but in the furtherance of his habit."

He recorded a verdict of misadventure.

After the hearing, Mr Bloodworth's father, John, said he hoped other people would learn from what had happened to his son.

* BLOODWORTH and his three brothers Steven, Michael and John were among a gang of eight men jailed in December 1999 for drug trafficking.

The ring was run by Grant Mitchell-lookalike Steven, an ex-Paratrooper who recruited his family and other former members of his regiment to act as 'mules', travelling between Dover, Gwent and Scotland in hire cars to ferry cannabis and cut amphetamines. Over an 18-month period, they handled drugs with a 'wholesale' value of £400,000, but a street value of around £5million.

They communicated by pagers to make pick-up and drop-off arrangements and Malcolm Bloodworth recruited Mark Ralph as a courier - an offence for which he was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

It was Ralph who tipped off police to their activities, turning 'grass' and sparking Operation Firm, a 15-month investigation involving eight full-time officers from Gwent Police, Customs and Excise, the national crime squad, National Criminal Intelligence Service and forces in South Wales, Kent, Cumbria and Lothian and Borders.

Steven Bloodworth was jailed for six years for masterminding the ring, which he was said to run with military precision. John Bloodworth, a major player, received five years, while Michael was given one year for conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Mark Ralph received a two-year suspended sentence, due to his co-operation with the police.

Ex-Para John Davidson, of Dover, had a two-year sentence, Robert Groundwater, also of Dover, received three years and Mark Jones, of Bedwas Road, Caerphilly, was jailed for two years.