A DRUG addict mother-of-two who was found with heroin splattered over her bedroom wall has been spared jail.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Margaret Ferguson, 29, had also had a box of cannabis resin, discovered when police raided her then Burnley home.

Ferguson, of Ayr Grove, Burnley, who was recently admitted to hospital suffering a blood clot after years of injecting heroin, was given a two-year community rehabilitation order, with the Addressing Substance Related Offending Programme. She admitted possessing heroin and cannabis resin.

Sentencing, Recorder Yvonne Coppell told the defendant she had failed to take up opportunities given her with community sentences and in particular a drug treatment and testing order. She added, however, her public duty did not require her to send Ferguson to prison.

Peter Horgan, prosecuting, told the court last November police forced open the door at the defendant's then address at Fenwick Street, Burnley.

OFerguson ran upstairs, a piece of tin foil fell to the floor, and officers chased her to the bedroom and Another piece of tin foil dropped from her hand and then police saw brown powder splattered all over the bedroom wall. The powder was scraped off and analysed and found to be 73 miligrammes of heroin. Ferguson was arrested and interviewed and admitted she was a drug user.

Stephen Barton, defending, said Ferguson, who pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and had been a heroin user for the best part of 10 years and recently had been rushed into hospital over the clot.