A teenage girl who acted as a “cuckoo” in a drug addict’s home to sell cocaine and heroin has been locked up.

Police officers were alerted after they saw the drug user running down Canterbury Street in Gillingham looking nervous and shaken.

The addict told them a teenager was in a flat dealing drugs and said she did not want her there.

Officers went to the first floor flat on May 18 and found Tia McLean there.

She dropped her phone and then attempted to put it in the hood of her top.

Prosecutor Craig Evans said heroin in powder form and 10 wraps of cocaine were found in the living room.

There was also a set of scales with brown residue on it.

A further bag of cocaine was in the hood of her top.

She also had £177 in cash and a list containing names and telephone numbers. A knife was in her bag.

The drugs were worth almost £3,000 when sold on the street, Maidstone Crown Court heard on Thursday.

The 19-year-old dealer, of Bovill Road, Forest Hill, south east London, claimed she had only been in Medway two days.

Mr Evans said officers believed it was a “cuckooing case”, where homes were occupied to sell drugs.

The court was told McLean committed the offences because she did not want to tell her teacher mother she had lost her job as a chef and could not offer any financial support.

McLean, who has previous convictions for possessing drugs, admitted two offences of possessing heroin and cocaine with intent to supply.

Sentencing her to two-and-a-half years youth custody, Judge Philip St John-Stevens said he took account of her age and remorse.

“You must appreciate the misery that dealing in Class A drugs brings to others,” he told her.