A woman who supplied cocaine, cannabis and prescription drugs from her home in Northallerton has been spared prison.
Nicola Hutchinson, who turned her home into a “sweet shop” or “buffet” of various illegal substances, peddled the drugs with the “expectation of significant financial gain”, Teesside Crown Court heard.
The 35-year-old was arrested after police raided her home in Knotto Bottom Way in April 2022 when they found a huge drugs stash including 31g of cocaine, 92 Gabapentin tablets and 185 Pregabalin capsules with a combined street value of more than £1,200, along with some cannabis resin and a small amount of Diazepam tablets.
Prosecutor Tabitha Buck said officers also discovered £2,165 in cash, plastic dealer bags, weighing scales, a baseball bat and two “dealer lists” with customer debts.
Messages on Hutchinson’s phone showed she had been dealing cocaine and prescription drugs since April 2021, almost exactly a year before her arrest.
Ms Buck said that police seized about £1,000 of cocaine which was bagged up ready for sale.
Defence barrister Antonia Adie said the mother-of-one had never been in trouble before and “the loss of her good character is something that is deeply regrettable to her”.
She said Hutchinson’s life took a downward turn after her husband, who was an alcoholic, took his own life in 2017. A few years later, while working in a nursing home, she suffered a serious back injury which led to an addiction to painkillers, namely Pregabalin.
In recent years she had formed a new relationship with a man who was a heavy cocaine user and had built up a large debt with a dealer. It was at this point that Hutchinson started dealing to clear the debt owed by her then partner.
Hutchinson, who had never taken cocaine herself, effectively became a “guarantor for this debt” and the dealer made it clear that she was responsible for paying it back.
Ms Adie said that Hutchinson, whom she described as “naïve”, had peddled the Pregabalin and Gabapentin tablets “from her own personal supply”.
She had since turned her life around by volunteering for a charity supporting people affected by suicide and providing support and respite for dementia sufferers and other vulnerable people.
Hutchinson appeared for sentence today after pleading guilty to possessing Class A cocaine, Class B cannabis and Class C Pregabalin and Gabapentin with intent to supply. A further charge of possessing Diazepam with intent to supply was ultimately dropped by the prosecution and a formal not-guilty verdict was entered.
Judge Chris Smith described the drug stash at Hutchinson’s home as “almost like a sweet shop, a buffet, for alternative controlled substances”.
He said it was an “unusual case” and “extraordinary (that) a lady in her mid-30s, who has never been in trouble before, has to be sentenced as a drug dealer”.
However, he told the convicted dealer: “What is clear is that you are full or remorse now you’ve reflected on how stupid you were two years ago. (This was) silly, silly behaviour.”
He said that because Hutchinson had since kicked her prescription-drug habit and had helped others since her arrest, and had caring responsibilities as a mother, he could suspend the inevitable jail sentence.
Hutchinson sobbed in the dock as she told the judge: “I’m so sorry.”
She received a two-year suspended jail sentence and was placed on a nine-month curfew which prohibits her leaving her home between 7pm and 6am daily.
However, the judge warned her that the case wasn’t yet over as she still faced financial confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act which will determine how much she pays back into the public purse for her ill-gotten gains.
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