A drug dealer who told his lover to hide crack cocaine and heroin in her underwear, when they were stopped by police, has been jailed for four years.

A judge at Teesside Crown Court also ordered the forfeiture of the borrowed BMW car that 40-year-old Islam Guul was driving when police stopped him in Middlesbrough.

When partner Nicola Croce, 30, was searched, she had drugs with a street value of about £3,000 in her bra and pants, along with a small set of digital scales.

Robert Terry, prosecuting, told the court yesterday that the cocaine and heroin found on her had a street value of about £3,000.

Guul, of Tower Green, Middlesbrough, admitted possessing drugs with intent to supply others last September 12. He also admitted possessing six bottles of the heroin-substitute methadone found in the car boot and a five Ecstasy tablets, concealed in a cigarette packet.

Robin Turton, defending, said: "He was dealing in drugs to fund his own addiction, pumping it all back into his own system."

Croce, 30, who pleaded guilty to possessing the drugs found on her, was given a six month-jail sentence.

Her barrister, Rebecca Young, said: " As a police car homed in on their vehicle, the drugs were handed to her to secrete about her person. Her relationship with Guul is now at an end."

Judge David Bryant told Croce, a mother-of-two, of Union Street, Middlesbrough: "This was a bad offence because you hid the drugs in an attempt to assist your partner in evading justice."

A drug trafficking inquiry will take place on whether unemployed Guul should forfeit £2,200 cash found in his flat after he claimed that the money was a loan from his mother for him to visit his father's grave in Pakistan.

Guul also admitted three offences of handling stolen electrical equipment and goods found in the search of his flat and was given concurrent six-month sentences.