Desperate to pull her daughter out of drug addiction, a mum took the law into her own hands and tied up and imprisoned the teenager in her own room.

Helped by a family friend and her daughter's former boyfriend, who had returned from America that day, they stopped her leaving the house to meet the man believed to be a drug dealer waiting outside.

The girl was wrestled back into her room and eventually tied up with silver tape and a sock pushed in her mouth.

But Tabitha Saker had dialled 999 and pressed the call button on her phone so the whole incident could be heard by the operator and police.

Police arrived at the Saker family home in Temple Ewell and arrested Julia Saker and Christopher Francklin in October.

Both appeared at Canterbury Crown Court having admitted false imprisonment and were told by Judge Adele Williams it was a serious offence which subjected the victim to violence and humiliation.

Julia Saker was jailed for 12 months and Francklin for 18 months.

Prosecutor James Bilsland said only days before the incident, Mrs Saker discovered her 18-year-old daughter was taking drugs.

Francklin had learned on the grapevine there was a problem with Tabitha and when he returned from America and went to see Mrs Saker at Malvern Road he stopped Tabitha climbing out of a window and forced her back into her room.

During the struggle Tabitha was repeatedly complaining she could not breathe and Francklin could be heard threatening to hit her hard and told her mother to leave because that was what he was going to do.

Tabitha was begging them to stop hurting her. At one stage she managed to get free and grabbed a knife but was disarmed.

At one point a belt was used round her neck and her arms were tied behind her back. She suffered bruises, headache and a sore jaw Police found Tabitha crying uncontrollably.

Francklin admitted becoming violent and tying Tabitha up.

He was going to try to force her to give up drugs by going cold turkey. Julia Saker admitted tying her daughter up.

Nicholas Jinks said Francklin, of Grove Meadow, Whitfield, had been a friend of the family.

"Things escalated ... and he accepted he injured her when jumping on her.

"It was a short incident which caused great distress and he accepts his responsibility.

"There was no premeditation or weapons used and it was motivated by good intentions," he said.

Philip Hill, for Julia Saker, said she had done her utmost for Tabitha and she had acted with the best of intentions.