A well-known footballer and long-term drug addict was jailed for five years yesterday for a string of breaking and entering offences after being told that he had used up all of his chances.

Assistant Justice Archibald Warner said he had made every concession for 36-year-old Winslow Edward Williams over the years, and the only sentence left was a significant jail-term.

The Somerset Eagles goalkeeper was brought before Supreme Court charged with breaking and entering a home in Pembroke on May 18 this year while the occupants were home.

For that charge, he received two years in prison.

However, at the time of the offence, Williams was on probation after going through the drug court and so was forced to face five previous breaking and entering charges from August, 2001, and two of burglary, after breaching the order.

He received three years in prison for each of those previous offences, to run concurrently.

Assistant Justice Warner said the two and three-year terms were to run consecutively, and ordered Williams undergo a drug treatment programme while in Westgate.

When he is released, he will then be supervised on a three-year probation order.

Assistant Justice Warner said: "I don't know what can be done. It would seem there is only one course open to me and that is to remove Mr. Williams from the public for some considerable time.

"He has been given every chance. He has exhausted all of the avenues that the law in its most liberal extensions can grant to him.

"He went into drug court and they kicked him out. He still offends in a very, very serious way. The only alternative is that society must be protected from him for a considerable period of time."

But Williams' lawyer, Victoria Pearman, said while she appreciated a custodial sentence was likely, she believed a shorter sentence followed by a period of supervision would be more helpful to her client, than simply a longer jail-term.

She said he had battled a drug habit for 20 years and had done well under previous supervision, lapsing this May, when he committed the latest offence.

But she said the Sandys man, who is from the White Hill area, did want to kick his habit and did want another chance to get his life on track.

She said he had proven himself at work, and had even been given a supervisory role and big pay increase after impressing his bosses.

Ms Pearman said he had tried hard to comply with the probation order and had found gainful employment, and said just because he lapsed once did not mean he did not warrant further supervision orders.

She said: "The court does not sentence people without taking into consideration people's frailties."

Williams' boss at Bermuda Air Conditioning George Hoffert described the accused as a nice guy who worked hard.

He said he had been shocked to hear of the allegations against him in court, and said out of his five employees, Williams had been the best.

He said: "I guess the drug set something off in his head (in May this year). I would not believe he would do something like this. I would like to see him come back to work."

And Williams himself stood up to address the court and had to fight back tears as he asked Assistant Justice Warner for understanding.

"Please don't give up on me," he said.

"I'm not a bad person trying to become good. I'm just a sick person trying to get better.

"If you give up on me, it will have a negative impact on me. I know I did wrong. But please consider all the good things I was doing before I had my relapse."

He suggested he be given a short term in prison with drug treatment, but asked that supervision be provided on his release, so he could kick his drug habit once and for all.

Assistant Justice Warner sentenced him to five years in total, but said the challenge for Williams was to get clean and successfully apply for parole at the first opportunity - after he had served a third of his sentence.

Time already spent in custody was to be taken into account.

Prosecutor Cindy Clarke acted for the Crown.