TWO women have been jailed after they supplied a bag of heroin to a "drug addict" who was actually an undercover police officer, a court heard.

Kerry Anne Rennison, 26, and Victoria Jones, 24, tried to make the detective sniff heroin in their presence, and also tried to make her strip to her underwear to ensure she was not carrying a hidden microphone, Nicholas Barker, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

But the undercover officer got out of taking the drug, and managed to dupe the two criminals into giving her the bag of heroin.

Only after their arrest did the pair learn she was an undercover policewomen and not the "drug addict" she had pretended she was.

Rennison, of Crichton Avenue, Clifton, York, was jailed for two-and-a-half years, plus 240 days unserved of a sentence from which she was on parole at the time. She admitted four charges of supplying heroin.

Jones, of the same address, was jailed for four years.

The court heard she continued to peddle heroin after her arrest, and was on a conditional discharge and probation for two separate offences of shoplifting during the drug crimes. She admitted two charges of supplying heroin.

The unnamed police officer and her colleague got a judge's commendation.

The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, said: "If her wits had, under the stresses, forsaken her, she might have found herself in the situation of taking drugs or being severely beaten up. I have tremendous admiration for her and the other officers that undertake this job."

Mr Barker said the pair took commission on the single or double wrap deals they arranged for the undercover police officer.

On each occasion they had to get the heroin from someone else to give to the officer, sometimes from an address in Peterhill Drive, and they had no stash of their own. The threat to make the officer sniff heroin occurred in Rennison's flat.

Barristers for the drug pair said they were go-betweens and had not made any profit out of the deals for themselves. Nicholas Johnson, for Rennison, said his client had started taking heroin because she had been sexually abused for seven years.

Taryn Turner, for Jones, said she was studying in prison so she could go straight on her release.

Updated: 10:25 Tuesday, June 21, 2005