AN inmate was pressured into acting as a drugs mule when she returned to a women's prison from weekend leave, a court heard.

Sharron Elizabeth Nuttall was urged to secrete a package containing a cocktail of class C drugs while reporting back to Low Newton Prison, Durham, last January 19.

But the package, containing 13 pills and four grams of cannabis resin, was discovered in an intimate search on her arrival at the prison.

Durham Crown Court heard that long-serving inmate Ruth Taylor, knowing Nuttall was on weekend leave, left a phone message at the address where she was staying, with her "order".

Steven Orange, prosecuting, said Nuttall did not receive the message, but was approached in a car park by two men, including Taylor's boyfriend, Paul Rogers, who handed over the package and told her to take it for Taylor.

The court heard that Taylor, 25, was serving six-and-a-half years after a car she was travelling in was involved in a hit-and-run death, in Sunderland, in 2002. Both she and the driver were said to have been high on cocaine, returning to their home in Millfield, Sunderland, from a burglary.

Taylor was given an extra six months and Rogers, 37, of Western Hill, Millfield, was jailed for four months, when both admitted being concerned in the supply of class C drugs, at court last month.

Nuttall, 27, of Dunelm Road, Thornley, east Durham, admitted possession of drugs with intent to supply.

Anne Haugstad, mitigating, said Nuttall, who was serving a four-year sentence for burglary, went along with the drug-smuggling bid out of fear.

Nuttall received a 100-hour community punishment order as part of an 18-month community rehabilitation order.