A WOMAN who dealt heroin on the steps of York Magistrates Court was jailed for three-and-a- half years - and a top judge warned he would do all he could to rid York of the drug.

Drugs dealer Caroline Brolly, 25, took the buyer she met on the court steps down an alleyway close to Clifford Street Police Station to complete the deal, prosecutor Alan Mitcheson told York Crown Court.

But the "heroin user" was an undercover detective and she was caught in a police sting in which known drug addicts unwittingly introduced officers to two dealers.

Speaking of the courthouse deal, the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman said: "It seems to me the arrangement illustrates the indifference you feel for the forces of law and order. Drugs are rife in this city. I must do what I can to discourage them."

Brolly, of Bell Farm Avenue, off Huntington Road, York, pleaded guilty to four charges of supplying wraps of heroin.

Mr Mitcheson said that on two occasions in The Groves, undercover officers known only as Baz and Rebecca, used known drug users as intermediaries in deals with Brolly and an accomplice due to appear before York Crown Court next week.

On the second occasion, Brolly gave her mobile number, which officers rang before a third meeting in Waverley Street, The Groves. On each occasion, Brolly and Kirby were in a car.

The next time the police phoned, she arranged to meet them on the courthouse steps.

When they arrived, she was not there, but Kirby went into the courthouse to fetch her and Brolly led one of the officers to the nearby alleyway.

For Brolly, John Howard said she had a long-standing heroin addiction that began with the death of her grandmother when she was 15.

By the end of 2003, she was so heavily addicted, that in return for free heroin, she agreed to sell the drug on behalf of her own dealer.

Updated: 09:14 Saturday, March 20, 2004