A DRUG-dealing single mum who has now gone "back to school," has escaped jail.

But Gillian Butterworth was warned by a judge she would not be so lucky if there was a next time.

Butterworth, 24, who supplied one man with cannabis, was told by Recorder Alistair Webster there was no evidence of previous peddling and he was prepared to see it as a one-off.

But, he added, what she had done normally resulted in imprisonment and if she did it again, that was what awaited her, however hard she may be working at her studies.

Butterworth, of Pine Street, Nelson, was ordered to carry out 160 hours community service, after she admitted supplying cannabis resin and possessing the drug.

David Pickup, prosecuting, told Burnley Crown Court police searched the defendant's house last June, after keeping observations outside, and saw two men leaving. One man had cannabis resin on him.

Officers found Butterworth and four other people inside and asked if there were any drugs in the property. She said there was and the police found a total of 40.03 grammes of cannabis, with a street value of £160, and some weighing scales in the kitchen.

A total of £315 cash was recovered and Butterworth said some belonged to a friend and she had been saving up for her own supply of cannabis. When the defendant was interviewed, she said all the cannabis in the house was for her own personal use and she kept weighing scales to make sure she was not ripped off. She claimed the man found with drugs had gone to give her a message and denied supplying him with any drugs.

When the defendant, who told police she smoked an eighth or a quarter of cannabis a day, was told of forensic links between the cannabis found on the men and that in her house, she said he may have got his drugs from the same place as him.

Mark Stuart, defending, said after the offence Butterworth had thought about where her life in general was going. She had gone to Nelson and Colne College, to take examinations and while there, her youngster was looked after by a child minder.

She had not had any education since she was 16, had put her heart and soul into her work and was thoroughly enjoying it. A tutor had written that she had exceeded expectations.

The defendant did an enormous amount of homework and when she was not at college was a sole parent. That was the only time she spent away from her child.

Mr Stuart added the defendant, who had had tragedies in her personal life, was willing to do community service.