A drug dealer caught by police insisted he could make £500 a day selling heroin from his home, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Mark Gambie and his wife Kelly were trapped as they returned from a drug buying trip. In their car was their three-year-old daughter.

The couple each had a £100 a day addiction and despite dealing were £3,000 in debt, said defence counsel Dele Alakija.

A body search at Hereford police station revealed heroin worth £1,400 concealed in the wife's private parts, said Paul Whitfield, prosecuting.

She also had crack cocaine valued at £40 hidden in her mouth. Her husband confessed to police he was to blame for all the drugs they bought in Gloucester. He asked his wife to carry them.

Up to 50 £10 wraps a day were sold from their home in Kilvert Road, Hereford, he told the court.

Mark Gambie, aged 24, admitted supplying heroin, possession of heroin with intent to supply and possession of crack cocaine. He also admitted making off without paying for three amounts of petrol and theft.

His 21-year-old wife admitted possession of heroin, crack cocaine and the heroin substitute methadone.

Sentencing the husband to three years and 11 months jail, Judge Anthony King said he would be "a dangerous candidate" for re-offending when released.

He gave the wife a three-year community rehabilitation order and warned if she did not mend her ways she would lose her child to care proceedings.

The couple's car was stopped by police on June 12, this year, in Broxash Drive, Hereford. They had taken £400 to Gloucester to buy drugs.

Mark Gambie began taking ecstasy at the age of 11 and had been on heroin for 10 years, said Mr Alakija.

It was a classic case of "do the deal or steal" to feed his habit, not the profit motive. Unfortunately, his wife was influenced by him.

The barrister said it was a novel experience for the husband to be drug-free after a time in custody on remand. The wife was undergoing drug rehabilitation.

A week ago she had to be cut from a car which overturned. Mr Alakija said it made her realise "what a silly young lady" she had been and made her determined to wean herself off heroin.