A mum who stashed cannabis with an estimated street value of almost £450,000 in her Rochester home has walked free from court.

A judge told Nicola O'Neill he accepted she was merely the "custodian" for the sealed boxes and had acted with a degree of naivety.

O'Neill, who runs a burger van on Medway City Estate in Strood, admitted possessing 126kg of herbal cannabis with intent to supply on June 27 last year.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the drug was found in the garage and spare room of her semi-detached home in Church Close, Cliffe, during a raid by police.

Prosecutor Edmund Fowler said the 47-year-old told officers: "I have been stupid".

She later added in a prepared statement that she had been looking after the boxes for someone she met a work.

The court was told the cannabis was worth between £330,000 and £446,000.

Imposing a two-year jail term suspended for two years, Judge Philip St.John-Stevens told O'Neill her fate would have been "very different" if she had known the boxes contained cannabis or had been paid for her involvement.

Having read a number of letters handed in to the court on her behalf, the judge added that he accepted the mother-of-two had acted out of character.

"Perhaps the character portrayed in those letters of a caring person, ever willing to help others, placed against a degree of naivety led you to where you are today."

Judge St.John-Stevens said he had thought "anxiously" about the case and taken her vulnerability, genuine remorse and guilty plea into account.

As part of her sentence O'Neill must attend an alcohol treatment programme for six months, as well as 12 sessions at a women's offending group.

She will also be subject to an electronically-tagged curfew for four months between 9pm and 4am.

Louise Oakley, defending, described O'Neill as "someone easy to take advantage of" but who had learnt her lesson.

"The threat of the cell door closing behind her has had a significant impact upon her."