A mum has narrowly escaped prison on drug charges after the court heard she was living in a tent.
Leanna Hutchison, 34, was facing jail for breaching a suspended sentence for possession of crack cocaine. But when Judge Mark Bury heard that she had been living in a tent for the past two months, he had compassion on her.
Judge Bury told Hutchison he was giving her "another chance" after discovering she was living in a tent.
He said: "You have been lucky so far that it's not been cold. When it gets cold, you won't like it in a tent, will you? We can't have a 34-year-old lady living in a tent."
Hutchison narrowly avoided being jailed last year after police found her with crack cocaine following a raid, Hull Live reports.
Hutchison, 34, admitted breaching a three-month suspended prison sentence imposed on December 8 last year for possessing crack cocaine. A charge of possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply was dropped.
Stephen Robinson, prosecuting, said that police raided a house and found Hutchison sitting on a bed with a small amount of crack cocaine next to her on the bed. Other drugs items were in the house but another person was there and he was seen making drug exchanges outside. He was followed back to the house where he had come from.
Hutchison had convictions for shoplifting and theft, indicating a drugs habit. She had failed to attend for probation appointments on May 20 and 27.
The court heard that she was homeless and living in a tent outside a house. She was on methadone and was trying to cut down on that through tipping half of it down the sink. She was prescribed bulk amounts of heroin substitute methadone at a time rather than having to drink it in front of a pharmacist, the court heard.
Judge Bury advised her that it was better to take more of the methadone and less heroin to top it up, rather than ending up taking more heroin after cutting down on the methadone. Hutchison's lifestyle was described in court as "quite chaotic" but she was engaging with the probation service sporadically. She has a five-year-old son but does not have responsibility for looking after him.
Judge Bury told her: "You have got yourself into a bit of a pickle."
Hutchison said that she had been living in a tent for more than two months but, before that, she was living in a shared house where only women were living. She had to leave it after getting "kicked out" because of allowing her homeless boyfriend to live there.
Hutchison was trying to stop committing offences and was trying to do something to help herself through working with agencies, said Judge Bury. Her father was, according to Hutchison, a 68-year-old alcoholic and her mother lived in Australia, the court heard.
Judge Bury told her: "I am going to give you another chance. Take it, though. I am not sending you to prison today but you have got to do your part. You have got to carry on trying to get off drugs completely. If you don't do what you are supposed to do, you might be in prison. You won't like it in prison."
Hutchison was given five extra days' rehabilitation. She said: "Thank you for giving me another chance."
