A WOMAN caught smuggling drugs into HMP Haverigg has been spared a jail term after a court heard she has already served a stretch behind bars since she was caught.

Danielle Spencer, 36, was spotted by a guard putting a package into her mouth and passing it to an inmate when she visited the jail on November 26 2015.

The package was seized and found to contain 12 subutex tablets - a heroin substitute - with a street value of between £54 and £90.

But Preston Crown Court heard the tablets would be worth ten times more their street value in prison.

Spencer, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to conveying drugs into prison.

The court heard she was an addict herself and vulnerable due to mental health problems and there had been some degree of coercion for her to commit the offence.

In May last year she was jailed for 16 weeks for possession of methadone and has been complying with the conditions of her licence since her release.

Judge James Adkin, sentencing, said: “I was persuaded to give you a chance to see if you could stay out of trouble and comply with your licence provisions.

“You have been sent to prison for possession of Class A drugs and other offences.

“It seems to me that in the circumstances that you fall, to be sentenced for an offence on November 27 but have subsequently been to prison, sending you back would not be constructive to you in the longer term.”

The judge said he was prepared to take the “exceptional” step of granting a community order for 12 months and ordered Spencer to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and a 20 day rehabilitation activity requirement.