A heroin addict caught dealing in the drug at her Minster home has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Deborah Clay had 21 wraps concealed in her bra when police raided her High Street flat in the on January 10 last year.

A judge told the 35-year-old that she could have been sent to prison "for a number of years" for dealing in class A drugs.

"I sentence you on the basis you were a low level supplier of potentially deadly drugs, namely heroin," he said.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Clay immediately confessed to officers she had heroin. The wraps containing 4.12g of the drug were found in her bra.

She gave a prepared statement denying she intended to supply the drug and claimed it was for personal use.

Clay denied possessing the drug with intent to supply but was convicted by a jury last month.

Juliet Oliver, defending, said Clay, an addict for 10 years, had made efforts to reduce her heroin usage to "high days and holidays". She resorted to drugs when things went wrong in her life.

Judge Jeremy Carey said it was "a pretty lame excuse" that Clay said she had the wraps in her bra because she did not want visiting children to get hold of them.

"There is very little that can be said on your behalf,” he said. "You denied what you are being sentenced for. You can't ask for mercy or credit for facing up to what you were doing."

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