A HOTEL chambermaid was today starting a three-year jail sentence for selling heroin on the streets of York.

Police caught Sara Collier red-handed in bed with £570 worth of the drug only two weeks after she was bailed for possessing heroin.

Sentencing her, Judge Peter Charlesworth told her: "You were supplying heroin on the streets of York. You were not only feeding your own addiction but feeding the addiction of others"

Leeds Crown Court heard that Collier, 33, had been convicted at a trial last month in York of supplying heroin in December, 1996.

The jury had heard how Collier was in bed when the police burst into her flat in Eldon Street, The Groves, York.

Yesterday, Robert Terry, prosecuting, said it had not been the first time Collier had been caught for dealing in the class-A drug. In November 1994, she had been jailed for two-and-a-half years for heroin dealing, alongside her boyfriend.

In mitigation. Anne Munday said Collier had now come off heroin completely. While she had been in prison on remand, her contact with her boyfriend had dwindled and was unlikely to be resumed..

"After her release from her last prison sentence she was hoping to start a new life", said Miss Munday.

"Unfortunately, the only area she could find to live in was The Groves in York, which at that time was swamped with heroin, and crack cocaine had also hit that area.

"She started taking heroin again."

Collier had been put under pressure by another dealer in the area to sell heroin to make a profit for him, she said. "She made no financial benefit for herself other than to feed her own habit."

She had also been working for a time as a chambermaid at the Viking Hotel in York.

Miss Munday said Collier, who had been a heroin addict since the age of 17, had now re-established contact with her mother and old friends.

Judge Charlesworth said he accepted Collier had made progress in the 13 months since she was arrested. But, he said, she had been caught red-handed with the heroin less than two weeks after being put on bail for possession of heroin.

He said he had to give her a lengthy sentence for selling on the streets. He told her "Your life is yours - you're 33 -it's up to you."

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