A FEMALE inmate was found with drugs within days of being admitted to prison.

On the day Lucy Holm was taken into Low Newton Women’s Prison, in Durham, after receiving a five-year jail sentence, a small package was recovered in a search of her cell bed, on May 28.

Durham Crown Court was told the package was found to contain 2.2 grams of heroin.

Two days later, having been moved to the prison’s detox separation unit, a plastic children’s egg fell from her underwear during a further search.

Jonathan Walker, prosecuting, said it was found to contain a mixture of class C drugs, totalling 8.5g.

She told prison staff that she took the drugs in to the prison to help her overcome the effects of withdrawing from such substances.

The court heard that she has a history of drug offending and received the five-year sentence at Carlisle Crown Court, on May 28, for street dealing and burglary at the home of a mental health victim, taking up to £2,000.

Twenty-nine-year-old Holm, of Maryport, in Cumbria, admitted bringing a prohibited article, namely controlled drugs, into prison.

Adjourning sentence until next week, Judge Robert Adams told Holm: “The Crown’s case is that you took these drugs in for yourself and my intention is to impose a short consecutive sentence.”

Holm will remain in Low Newton, from where she will be sentenced by prison television link on Monday (September 22).