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Saturday, October 11, 2008, 10:00
Betty Nicholls, 77, told a court yesterday she had been given the drug by a stranger who told her "it will give you a lift".
She has escaped a jail sentence after telling a judge she used it to treat pneumonia.
The frail widow, who stands just 5ft tall and weighs less than six stone, said she thought the drug was cannabis.
Nicholls, of Bude in Cornwall, admitted possessing 27.4 grams of cocaine with a street value of £1,370 when she appeared at Exeter Magistrates Court.
Sean Tipton, prosecuting, said a marked police car had received a tip-off and stopped a grey Ford Focus on the M5 near Junction 26 at Poltimore near Exeter 11 months ago.
The police had information that drugs were being transported in the vehicle. Officers stopped the car and both the male driver and Nicholls appeared "very nervous and avoided eye contact". They were taken to an Exeter police station and Nicholls' handbag was found in the car. Inside that was a bag which contained the compacted white powder.
Nicholls told officers: "I don't know what it is – I thought it was puff."
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. You know what is right or wrong. 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."
Nicholls, who receives a state and widow's pension, lives alone in Bude. She was made subject of a 60-day curfew order and will have to stay indoors at night and wear an electronic tag. She was also told to pay £60 costs.
No action was taken against the car driver.
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