A WOMAN who delivered drugs across the North-East for her boyfriend was spared prison yesterday – for the sake of her unborn baby.

Mother-of-two Amanda Phillips was given a suspended jail sentence while her lover, Michael Fawcett, was jailed for seven years.

After jailing 23-year-old Fawcett, Judge Peter Fox told relieved Phillips: “But for the child you carry, you would go the same way.”

Teesside Crown Court heard how nearly £35,000 worth of heroin and cocaine was found at Phillips’ home, in Stockton, in March, last year.

Fawcett had moved into the house in St Peter’s Road only two days after they met, shortly after he had been released from prison for drug offences.

Within days, police raided their home and discovered heroin worth up to £22,000 and cocaine valued at £13,000.

It emerged that Fawcett was in debt to dealers for losing drugs when he was arrested in 2006, and was put under pressure to work for them.

The court heard how he travelled to West Yorkshire to collect packages, and Phillips delivered smaller deals to Hartlepool and Darlington.

After her arrest, 26-year-old Phillips told police she knew Fawcett was involved in drugs, but denied any knowledge of the drugs in her home.

She later confessed to knowing about the packages and admitted she had helped her boyfriend bag them up in small amounts for distribution.

Phillips told police she would give evidence for the prosecution when Fawcett continued to deny the charges and was due to stand trial.

But he, too, later admitted two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

The court heard that Fawcett, of Cheshire Road, Stockton, received a four-year jail sentence in 2006 for possessing heroin and cocaine with intent to supply.

Ian West, for Fawcett, said: “He was put under pressure to sort out the debt, and put back under that incentive to go back into the murky business, which he did.”

Peter Wishlade, for Phillips, now of Rydal Avenue, Stockton, said she was an intelligent woman, but got involved in peddling, either through excitement or intimidation.

She was given a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, supervised by the Probation Service.