POLICE found heroin to the tune of up to £1,000, scales and a radio scanner when they searched a couple's home.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Gillian Russell, 37, "had control," of the drugs, and hid the heroin.

Officers discovered the scales hidden in a laundry basket and the scanner had the local police station tuned in to its memory.

Russell, then of Gisburn Road, Barrowford, denies possessing heroin with intent to supply and possessing the drug, in March last year.

John Wishart, prosecuting told the jury in the early hours a man named John Michael Handley was in a car driven by another person and police were nearby for entirely separate matter.

The vehicle stopped, Handley got out of the passenger seat and was seen to throw something away. That was later found to be cocaine and as a result of him being arrested, his house was visited by police.

Russell was the partner of Handley and they had been living together for some time.

When police knocked on the door, there was an unacceptable delay in it being opened and officers would say the defendant was nervous and flustered.

The house was searched and 25 grammes of heroin was found underneath a magazine in a magazine rack near to where Russell was sitting.

Mr Wishart said also found was a small amount of cannabis resin, although that was not the subject of any charges. It was a reasonable inference that drug dealing was going on at the house.

The prosecutor said the case against Russell was that she knew the heroin was in the house, had control of it, moved it and hid it.

She was interviewed by police and denied knowing anything about the items that were discovered and about the drugs in particular.

(Proceeding)