A WOMAN was under pressure from her then partner to smuggle drugs into HMP Hewell, Worcester Magistrates Court heard.

Rachel Evans, 34, admitted possession of cannabis with intent, and also confessed to smuggling drugs into the prison.

Evans, of Charlecote Park, Telford, appeared before Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins on Friday, December 2 for sentence.

Michael Conry, prosecuting, said Evans answered ‘no comment’ when interviewed by police over the incident on January 18, but said the crown was content to accept her basis of plea, that she was ‘acting under pressure'.

Lee Egan, defending, said he had to concede that his client’s actions invited an immediate custodial sentence, but stressed she had already served the equivalent of a two-month custodial sentence before the hearing.

He called Evans 'a lady who has had an unfortunate start in life'.

Judge Pearce-Higgins said: “I’m not going to send you to prison. It is clear she has had a life of disadvantage and misfortune, some of it entirely her own responsibility.

“She has committed a large number of relatively minor offences, a lot of shoplifting to fund a drug habit.”

He said her offending had started at the age of 18 and continued, resulting in a variety of short custodial terms and community disposals.

He added: “None of them have been successful in transforming her into a law-abiding, sensible member of society.”

The judge described her pre-sentence report as ‘a tale of woe’ and said he was ‘concerned to assist her to lead a more positive life’.

“It’s quite clear from the past that these short custodial terms do nothing for her at all," he said.

The judge imposed a community order of 12 months which will include a drug rehabilitation requirement for nine months, 40 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and a thinking skills programme.