A WOMAN agreed to smuggle drugs to a friend's boyfriend during a prison visit.

But Maxine Lowe's "clumsy attempt" to pass on heroin and tranquilliser pills was easily spotted by prison officers at Durham Jail.

Durham Crown Court heard they intervened before she could pass the package over.

David Crook, prosecuting, said it was found to contain one wrap of 297mg of heroin and 43 buprenorphine tablets, which Lowe hid in her bra.

Mr Crook said she volunteered to take in the drugs after her friend was denied entry to the jail's visitor centre on May 4 last year.

Lowe, 26, of Foyle Street, Sunderland, admitted possession of class A and C drugs with intent to supply.

She has previous convictions relating to drugs.

Paul Cross, mitigating, said: "She has fought a long battle with drugs in the past and relapsed into heroin use after her children were adopted. She worked successfully with drug treatment people in Sunderland, so much so that she became a mentor to others."

Jailing her for 15 months, Judge Tim Hewitt said she should understand the seriousness of what she was doing.

"Drugs in prison become currency and can lead to all kinds of difficulties, including violence," he said, adding that such sentences were intended to deter others.