Woman caught with 1,200 bags of heroin and cocaine spared jail - to look after her newborn

A drug dealer who was caught with more than 1,000 bags of heroin and crack cocaine has been spared jail time so that she can care for her newborn baby.

Amrit Kaur, 27, was arrested following a police raid at her home which uncovered 1,229 wraps of drugs with a street value of £12,230.

Officers also discovered electronic scales with traces of drugs on them, £500 in cash and two phones including messages she used to sell to users.

Suspended sentence

Kaur, of Leamington Spa, Warks, originally denied drug dealing, claiming that the hundreds of wraps didn’t belong to her.

She later changed her plea and admitted to possessing drugs with intent to supply when she appeared at Warwick Crown Court on Wednesday (14 April).

Kaur, who has two children, including an eight-week-old baby, walked free from court after she was handed a two-year suspended sentence.

‘Involved with company that is not good for you’

Recorder Balraj Bhatia QC told her: “You come from a decent background. You belong to a culture, like many cultures, which values a family life.

“But, for whatever reason, when you left home and embarked on an independent lifestyle you became involved with company which was simply not good for you.

“You know that possession with intent to supply class A drugs ends up with immediate custodial sentences.

“Even on your basis of plea that you were provided with bags of drugs and instructed to send mass text messages, that is a significant aggravating feature because it goes to mass supply.

“Had I wanted to go behind that basis and ask for further evidence on the Crown’s case, I have no doubt I would find information not favourable to your case.

“Before I had read the pre-sentence report and the references, and before I had heard the mitigation, I certainly had immediate custody pencilled in.”

‘Go home to your children and don’t come back’

Bhatia added: “You have come this close to going through that door behind you today.

“Go home to your children and don’t come back before the courts again.”

Graeme Simpson, prosecuting, said that on the morning of January 17, 2019 police raided her flat after receiving a tip-off about her dealing drugs.

He said: “Police found 266 wraps of heroin and 963 wraps of crack cocaine, together worth a total of £12,230, which were clearly for street dealing.

“There were also three further packages of cocaine worth another £280 with Kaur’s fingerprints on them.”

‘An experience she will never forget’

Police also seized electronic scales with traces of drugs on them and two phones, one of which had messages sent from it offering drugs for sale.

Seamran Sidhu, defending, said: “She says she was involved out of naivety, and she had very little awareness of the scale of the operation.

“She is 27 years of age, with no previous convictions.

“Both [her children] were born after the offences, and she is the sole carer of them.

“This encounter with the court system has been an experience she will never forget, and the court is unlikely to have any contact with her again.”