A WOMAN who took drugs to tackle her low mood and dealt it to get out of debt has been jailed for two years.

Teresa Christine Lumb, 26, admitted possession of thousands of pounds worth of cocaine intent to supply, and appeared before York Crown Court.

The court heard police executed a warrant at her home in Dringfield Close on the morning of October 15 last year while Lumb was still in bed, and asked her if there was anything illegal in the property. She said yes, and told officers there was cocaine in an ice cream tub next to a chest of drawers in the bedroom.

Inside the tub were packages of cocaine, small plastic bags, digital scales and drug paraphernalia. Tests later showed the largest single quantity of cocaine weighed more than 26g and was about 80 per cent pure, which the Crown Prosecution Service said could be split into 28 packets and sold for between £70 and £100 each, to a value of £2,800.

Christian Cavanagh, mitigating, said Lumb had no previous convictions, and "often suffers with low mood", which is what started her cocaine habit.

He said: "Cocaine was taken to alleviate that as an antidepressant and spiralled the defendant into debt. That has now been repaid, and she is in a position where she can move on.

"She is determined to put this behind her."

Judge Neil Davey QC, sentencing, warned Lumb that she could face up to four and a half years in prison, but gave her credit for her lack of previous conviction, work with adults and children in care.

He said: "What you were doing was engaging in street dealing. This is not a mere box ticking exercise, one has to stand back and look at the overall picture and the extent of your role.

"You turned to cocaine in order to alleviate your problems and became addicted. That became higher and you needed to finance your addiction and as a result of that got into debt and turned to drug dealing to solve your financial problems."

Judge Davey QC also said he was "impressed with the efforts made to rid yourself of an addiction to cocaine".