A NORTH-EAST grandmother who cooked treats laced with cannabis for her friends and neighbours walked free from court yesterday.

Former chef Patricia Tabram admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply from her home in East Lea, Humshaugh, near Hexham, Northumberland.

Yesterday, the 66-year-old returned to Newcastle Crown Court to be sentenced.

Jailing her for six months, suspended for two years, Judge David Hodson, the Recorder of Newcastle, said: ''People in this part of the world cannot fail to have noticed that you have been caught up in a media circus.

''It might be that you have been trying to tempt the courts into making a martyr of you. I am not going to do this.

''I consider that this offence merits imprisonment, which I fix at six months.

"However, I am persuaded that there are exceptional circumstances which justifies a suspension of the sentence for a period of two years.''

Tabram, who cooked for friends who suffer from similar health problems to her own, has continued to use cannabis, saying it relieves her medical problems and has none of the side-effects of prescribed drugs.

Northumbria Police twice raided Tabram's bungalow.

They seized 31 cannabis plants growing in her loft and another one from her hallway table.

In total 8.5oz (242g) of herbal cannabis was seized in the second raid, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Judge Hodson warned Tabram that if she commits any offence during the next two years, she will serve the six-month sentence imposed yesterday. He also told her to pay £750 costs and ordered the destruction of the cannabis seized from her home.