By Duncan Bick

Last updated at 12:52, Thursday, 21 February 2013

A woman accused of planning to sell heroin has been cleared.

Related: Heroin haul in loft was too hard to resist, woman tells Carlisle court

Marie Martin, 42, has been on trial at Carlisle Crown Court accused of possessing the heroin with intent to supply it.

Martin, who admitted a charge of possessing the drugs, told the court she had had a 19-year drug habit which she had managed to beat until she came across the drug in her attic.

She said she had been “ratching through” old boxes with her son when they discovered the powder in a bin bag.

Though she was not using the substance at the time, she described finding the drug in the attic of her home in Anchor Close, Penrith, as “like bumping into an old friend on the street”.

“I found it quite exciting,” she said. “I felt I wanted to use some of it.”

Over the next few days she smoked small amounts of the substance – until police visited her and found the drug in December.

Following a three-day trial, Martin was acquitted of the possession with intent to supply charge after the jury reached a unanimous not guilty verdict.

Judge Peter Hughes, presiding, said that Martin had seven convictions for heroin possession between 1998 and 2010 and that normally this would result in a prison sentence.

However, Martin suffers from emphysema and so Judge Hughes said her medical situation will need to be considered before sentencing. He adjourned for reports until March 25.

First published at 12:51, Thursday, 21 February 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk