A DRUG seller, dealing on behalf of her supplier, was candid when caught in possession of class A drugs by police.

Officers approached Sarah Louise Veitch as she was parked near the Red Lion pub, in Plawsworth, near Chester-le-Street, on August 28, last year.

Durham Crown Court was told as she stepped out of the car she was seen trying to conceal items in her track-suit bottoms.

Robin Turton said they were recovered and included a package of six £20 deals of cocaine, plus 14 8oz deals of heroin, with a potential sale value of between £1,120 and £2,400. She was also found in possession of £400.

Veitch was arrested and told the officers: “It is what it is, I can’t argue with it. I got caught.”

The 32-year-old defendant, of Colville Court, Stanley, admitted two counts of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.

Mark Styles, for Veitch, said: “She’s had a very difficult life and was addicted to all manner of substances by her early teens but fell through the net.

“She was expelled from school and the system didn’t protect her, which led her to fall into criminal activity as a juvenile.”

Mr Styles said by last summer her use of heroin “spiralled” and her supplier, “spotted an opportunity”.

Due to her level of debt, she was an “easy target”, to persuade to sell drugs.

But, he said: “Since her arrest she has taken steps to sort herself out and is no longer dependent on heroin.”

Mr Styles said she has a cleaning job which she has mixed with caring for her ill father.

“She has a structure in her life where there was only previously chaos.”

Mr Styles hoped to persuade Judge Ray Singh to reduce the custodial sentence to a level where it could be suspended, so she could be assisted by the Probation Service.

But the judge said by selling drugs Veitch was only extending the “pain, suffering and misery” of others in the same position she was in at the time.

Imposing a 30-month prison sentence, he also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs seized from her on arrest.