A woman who tried to hide heroin down the back seat of a police car has been given a deferred sentence.

Jacqueline Burbridge and her husband, Gareth, were stopped around midnight in their car and the vehicle was searched.

Drug paraphernalia was seized and cannabis was found in her bra at a police station, said prosecutor Michael Knowles.

But on the way there, the 33-year-old, from De Wyche Road, Wychbold, near Droitwich Spa, stuffed heroin worth £300-£600 down the patrol car seat.

She later told police she panicked when her husband passed her 5.95 grammes of the drug, said Adam Western, defending.

Her husband hit her in the mouth and ordered her to break into the police car and retrieve the heroin, he added.

When police raided the couple's former home in Farmer's Way, Droitwich, they found £45 worth of heroin in a kitchen cupboard. Burbridge said she was a user and the drugs belonged to her.

She pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and cannabis at Worcester Crown Court last Friday.

Deferring sentence until May 30 next year, Judge Michael Mott said it was in her own interest to avoid trouble during the intervening period.

Last month, heroin addict Gareth Burbridge, 23, was sentenced to three-and-a-half-years jail for supplying heroin.