Maureen Ferguson, 27, pleaded guilty at Stirling Sheriff Court to possession of heroin worth around £90.

Ferguson, a mother-of-two, admitted the child was able to get access to the heroin which had been left lying near a cooker in her council flat in October.

Procurator fiscal Cameron Ritchie told Sheriff Robert Younger the case attracted a "great deal of publicity" due to the manner in which it was recovered.

Mr Ritchie said: "A seven-year-old child went to school carrying two bags containing brown powder.

"The child was asked how it came to be in his possession and he said he found it lying in the kitchen area of the house.

"The police were contacted and a search was carried out of the house.

Brown powder

"In fact, the brown powder taken to the school by the child was all the heroin recovered in this case.

"It had been left in the house, and the child had picked it up and taken it to school."

Mr Ritchie added: "We are talking here of a child of primary school age, seven years old, who probably didn't know what it was."

Ferguson pleaded guilty to possessing 1g of the drug, said to have a street value of £90, at her flat on 1-2 October, 1998.

Her plea of not guilty to possessing a quantity of Temazepam at the same address was accepted by the Crown and sentence was deferred for four weeks.