Woman, 77, is tagged over cocaine

A 77-year-old woman is to be fitted with an electronic tag after being caught with £1,300-worth of cocaine in her handbag.

At an earlier hearing at Exeter Magistrates' Court Betty Lily Nicholls, of Bude, Cornwall, admitted possessing the class A drug.

Her car was stopped on the M5 last November by police acting on a tip-off.

She is the subject of a 60-day curfew order and will have to stay indoors at night as well as wear the tag.

It is unusual for somebody to give a stranger 27.4 grams of class A drugs District Judge Paul Farmer

She was also told to pay £60 costs.

Mr Sean Tipton, prosecuting, said a marked police car had received a tip off and stopped a grey Ford Focus car on the M5 11 months ago.

Officers stopped the car and both the man driving and Mrs Nicholls appeared "very nervous and avoided eye contact".

The drugs were found in a yellow bag in Mrs Nicholls' handbag.

She was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs but said nothing during formal police interviews.

Nicholls represented herself in court because she could not get legal aid.

She told the judge:"I was feeling really, really ill. I had pneumonia for three months and weighed just five and a half stone.

"Somebody said to try this. I never even paid for it. They gave it to me, I put it in my bag. I honestly thought it was marijuana.

"They said 'take this, it will give you a lift'."

District Judge Paul Farmer told her: "The circumstances are unusual, to say the least.

"I give you credit for pleading guilty and for being a person of mature years who has never been before a court before in their life.

"It is unusual for somebody to give a stranger 27.4 grams of class A drugs."

No action was taken against the car driver.