A WOMAN who ran a drugs 'shop' from her Bradford flat but was given a chance to turn her life around after the birth of a "miracle" baby has been spared jail.

Lisa Lowther, 37, had been warned she faced a "very substantial" prison sentence after originally pleading guilty to charges of being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine in August last year.

But, when she was due to be sentenced in October, Judge David Hatton QC was told she had given birth to a baby girl five weeks beforehand - after being told she could not have more children - and was now drugs-free.

After hearing pleas to give Lowther a last chance of motherhood and a chance to prove herself, he deferred the sentencing for six months.

Prosecutor Camille Morland said Lowther had been involved in supplying the class A drugs from her flat at Evans Towers, Manchester Road, Bradford, from July to September last year.

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When police executed a drugs warrant, they found the defendant and 12 other people at the flat.

Bradford Crown Court heard that her kitchen had been modified to create a 'shop' from which controlled drugs could be sold.

A hatch had been created by cutting a hole in the kitchen door, which had three sliding bolts on its inside.

She collected the drugs from a snicket near to St Luke's Hospital.

The court heard there had been 3,843 visitors to the defendant's flat in just 16 days, an average of 240 a day.

Lowther was said to have been using between £30 and £100 of class A drugs a day, and lost her tenancy as a result.

Miss Morland said Lowther, now of Broadstone Way, Holme Wood, Bradford, had played a significant role in the drugs operation, supplying street dealers in return for financial gain.

Sajid Majeed, for Lowther, said yesterday that she was cooperating with the conditions of an addiction treatment programme, after describing the birth as a "miracle" and a "catalyst for change" during the hearing last October.

"Your Honour gave her the opportunity to do something constructive, and she has taken it with both hands," he said.

After Mr Majeed presented Judge Hatton with a file of Lowther's achievements during her addiction programme, he told him: "She has fulfilled the conditions of the deferment, so it would be quite wrong of me to disappoint her."

Addressing Lowther, he said: "Your progress has been impressive and reassuring, you have satisfied the trust I placed in you.

"I wish you good luck and hope you continue with the progress you have clearly made.

"You've brought a lot of bags with you, so you were obviously not optimistic. Go and unpack them."

Lowther was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, with a two-year supervision order and a 12-month drug rehabilitation requirement.