Rugby woman jailed for supplying heroin and crack cocaine

A Rugby woman who was offering heroin and crack cocaine to fellow users was caught with more than 130 deals of the drugs.

And Angela Coles (30) of Avon Court, Rugby, was jailed for two years and three months after pleading guilty at Warwick Crown Court to possessing them with intent to supply.

Prosecutor Chloe Ashley said that in November last year the police raided an address in Ashwood Court, Rugby, because they suspected it was being used for drug-dealing.

They got in with the assistance of a council employee, and in the lounge they found Coles and two other people.

There was a coffee table with drugs and needles on it, and Coles seemed nervous and agitated, trying to leave the room to go to the bathroom.

Suspecting she was going to attempt to flush drugs away, the officers stopped her, and in the pocket of her cardigan they found a clingfilm wrap with a number of other wraps in it.

Coles and the other two people, against whom no further action has been taken, were arrested.

When the contents of the clingfilm wrap were later checked, there were 65 deals of heroin and 69 of crack cocaine, with a combined street value of up to £1,340.

But messages on her phone, which contained a series of texts indicating she was supplying the drugs, showed she had been offering ‘three for two’ – which Miss Ashby said brought the value down to around £900.

When she was questioned Coles admitted having the drugs, but would not answer questions on whether she supplied them to other people.

She told the officers she believed she needed to detox from drugs and wanted to go to rehab, added Miss Ashley.

Lee Masters, defending, said: “Miss Coles does wish to have the assistance of the probation service in getting away from this addiction she has.

“It’s the old story of being at a low point in her life and she was introduced to drugs by a so-called friend.

“She is under no illusions as to the possible sentence. However, I would urge Your Honour to draw back from that today.

“A taste of custody on remand for this 30-year-old lady has been a sobering shock to her.”

But jailing Coles, Judge Anthony Potter told her: “While there was obvious advantage to you by dealing in drugs, there are more factors which put you into a lesser role.

“It is obvious you were being used by those further up the chain to do their bidding, and I have read with care the helpful pre-sentence report.

“But I look with particular care at your engagement since your arrest.

“I am depressed to see a catalogue of missed appointments and failures to collect your Methadone script – and I find the suggestion of a drug rehabilitation requirement to be misplaced.

“I am afraid that in this instance my overriding view of the need to protect the public from the supply of class A drugs requires an immediate sentence.”