A PREGNANT mother-of-two has been jailed for four months after police discovered cannabis with a street value of up to £4,000 at her home.

Magistrates heard that officers arrested Jade Wharton, 25, after searching her property in Boothwood Road, Clifton Moor, York, looking for a relative of her husband whom they wanted to speak to.

That person was not there, but police discovered 491 grams (18oz) of cannabis, which prosecutors said could be worth up to £4,000 if broken up into deals of an eighth of an ounce, which sell for about £30.

The court heard that Wharton admitted owning the drug, but said it was for personal use over several months, as she smoked as many as ten cannabis cigarettes every day.

When detectives did not believe her, she admitted that a mystery person had sold it to her in Hull for £300, and suggested she sell it on for a profit that would fund her own needs.

But her solicitor, Charlie Cooper, said she had never got round to dealing any of the drug, and had none of the equipment she would need to do so.

Presiding magistrate Peter Smith sentenced Wharton, who admitted possessing 491 grams of cannabis with intent to supply, to four months in prison.

He said: "We think there is no other appropriate way to deal with you because there is a large amount of the drug.

"We accept there was no commercial gain and an early guilty plea, but it was an intentional offence and we have got to protect the public from people who supply drugs."

Mr Cooper then appealed against the sentence, but another bench of magistrates later decided that Wharton should stay in custody until the appeal is heard, at a date which has not yet been fixed.

Prosecutor Steve Ovenden said the drug was found during a police raid on March 8.

He said the street value of the drug would be less, perhaps between £1,000 and £1,500, if it was sold in larger quantities.

Speaking in mitigation, Mr Cooper admitted his client, who had a previous conviction of possession amphetamines in 1999, had "exaggerated" her cannabis habit.

He said she had fallen foul of a dealer in Hull, who she did not name to police.

Mr Cooper compared the dealer to an "encyclopaedia salesman", who persuaded people into buying something they did not need.

"Basically, she was bamboozled by a good salesman into supplying an illegal substance," said Mr Cooper.

Updated: 09:44 Saturday, June 04, 2005