A mother smuggled drugs into prison to pay off her daughter's debts to dealers.
Desperate 49-year-old Amanda Scott agreed to smuggle substances worth thousands of pounds into custody during a visit to the prison.
A court heard how she took the severe action after her daughter, who was being chased for drug debts, had tried to take her own life, reports Chronicle Live.
A judge stated that while deterrent sentences are needed in cases such as this, the exceptional circumstances surrounding the case meant that the inevitable prison sentence could be suspended.
It was on September 29, 2019, that Scott went to HMP Northumberland in Acklington to visit an inmate.
She was seen to place an item on a tray between them before getting up to try to leave.
He picked it up and tried to run off when prison officers approached him but he was detained.
The package was found to contain 545 diazepam tablets, worth around £450 on the streets but ten times as much in prison.
Scott, 49, of Commercial Road, Byker, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to taking drugs into prison and possessing a small amount of amphetamine found on her upon arrest.
Sentencing her to 30 weeks suspended for 21 months, Judge Sarah Mallett told her: "Your motive for taking those drugs was to pay off your daughter's drugs debts.
"I'm sure you understand there are enough problems in prison at this time already, including problems with drugs and there has to be a deterrent element in cases like this.
"A deterrent will not be required for you personally, you have demonstrated clear remorse but a deterrent for others is plainly important because exactly this sort of pressure to take drugs into prison is commonplace. It's probably the most reliable method of taking drugs into prison, to get someone to do it, and people have to resist it.
"The pressure on you came from pressure on your daughter. She tried to take her life and the pressure continued and this led you to commit this offence.
"What makes your case exceptional is the pressure was not put directly on you, it was put on your daughter."
The court heard she has 72 previous convictions, including a prison sentence in 1997 for supplying amphetamine and producing cannabis in 2000.
Matthew Purves, defending, said she has a background of being "entrenched in criminal behaviour" but has been working and has been out of trouble for some time.
He said that her daughter had significant issues with drugs and tried to take her own life.
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