Drugs 'tuck shop' mum avoids jail

Morris told the court that she had bought the cannabis for her son

A mother who ran what lawyers dubbed a "tuck shop for drugs" has avoided going to prison.

Julie Morris, 46, from Denton, Greater Manchester, was found guilty in March at Manchester Crown Court of one count of supplying cannabis.

She was given an eight month prison sentence on Friday suspended for 18 months by Judge Timothy Mort at Manchester Crown Court.

Mr Mort said it was not clear if Morris had sold the drug to children.

The former pharmacist from Heristone Avenue, Denton, Greater Manchester, had pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

Drug addict

But she was cleared of two other counts of selling cannabis to schoolgirls aged 13 and 14.

The earlier hearing was told Morris cut the drugs into tiny amounts, selling it from her Ford Mondeo and from her home. The prosecution called it a "tuck shop" for drugs.

During her trial, Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court heard she had a list of 38 customers, some as young as 13, and sometimes sold drugs for as little as 20p a time.

She had told the court she had bought the cannabis for her addicted son Christopher and gave it to him every day to monitor his habit.

Mr Mort told Morris that because the jury had rejected the schoolgirls' evidence he could not be sure the other person she supplied to was a youngster.