A MOTHER of five who turned to drug dealing to fund her own addiction has asked to be jailed to ‘save her life’.

Karen Treadway, who has an array of health problems, told a judge that the time inside would help her beat her alcohol and drug problems.

Darren Bartlett, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the 56-year-old and one of her daughters were spotted near her Walcot home on Tuesday October 13, 2015.

He said plain clothes officers searched them, finding she had £110 cash and a mobile phone on her, then went to her home on Frobisher Drive.

In the property they found 25-year-old Mustafa Khayre, who was from the Midlands, in her lounge as well as two wraps of cocaine and seven of heroin.

He had been sent down to ensure that all the money she made from dealing was returned back up the chain.

When she was first questioned she denied any involvement in selling drugs and said she did not know Khayre but was putting him as a favour for a friend.

But when her mobile phone was examined it was found to be littered with messages relating to the trade in drugs.

Over the previous two weeks she had sent out numerous texts advertising the sale of heroin and crack cocaine.

Between October 8 and October 13 there were 534 calls to the phone, 361 of which were less than 30 seconds, and from 37 different numbers.

Treadway, of Vicarage Road, Churchward, pleaded guilty to two counts of being concerned in the supply of drugs.

The court heard that she had 76 previous convictions, dating back to the 1970s, but none for dealing in drugs.

Mark Sharman, defending, said that his client readily admitted that not only does she have a drug problem but also one with alcohol.

She also suffers from a heart condition and diabetes, he said, and though she had been clean of drugs in the past, she had got back on them.

“Her instructions to me this morning are she wants to serve a sentence. She believes, and these are her words, that that will save her life,” he said.

“I simply ask your honour to take into mind all that is said in the presentence report, to keep the sentence that she will receive as short as possible so that when she is released she can continue to be drug and alcohol free and she can focus on that and her structured life with her and her daughters and her extended family.”

Jailing her for three years and two months Judge Robert Pawson said “I am told you would like to serve time in custody because you think it may save your life.

“Weighing all the factors up it does seem to me that the starting point is three-and-a-half years. Custody is the only realistic option in light of the guidelines. You pleaded on the day of trial so the most discount is ten per cent.”

At an earlier hearing Khayre, of Leicester, was jailed for two years and eight months after admitting the same offences as well as possessing criminal property in the form of £730 cash with two months added for having an offensive weapon in the Midlands.

Ends 20/4/17