Police were almost called into a courtroom to find a stash of missing drugs cannabis gran Patricia Tabram claims to have smuggled in inside her bra, it has emerged.
The trial of Tabram, 68, who has been found guilty of possessing and growing cannabis, almost descended into farce when she said the smuggled dope had gone missing in the court locker room.
Judge Barbara Forrester twice cleared the court while a search was mounted and considered calling the police.
But almost two hours after proceedings were due to begin, grey-haired Tabram announced that she had found the drugs - which she intended to produce as evidence - in her handbag.
The jury found her guilty of two charges today after just 15 minutes, angering campaigners who hoped a Not guilty verdict would lead to a change in the law.
The court heard that police, acting on a tip-off, raided the Northumberland home of Tabram and found four cannabis plants growing in a wardrobe at her bungalow.
They also found powdered cannabis in a jar next to her cooker.
The court heard she used cannabis to ease depression, as well as aches and pains she still suffers from two car crashes.
The jury of six men and six women came back with unanimous guilty verdicts after a quarter of an hour.
Tabram, who defended herself, told the court: "I am old and I am tired and I am disappointed, not in the result but by the jury.
"I am disappointed in the attitude of the court regarding someone my age with my health problems and the way I deal with it.
"I just want to go home and get some rest."
"I cannot exclude a custodial sentence because you are in breach of a suspended sentence," the judge told her.
Tabram was in breach of a six-month suspended jail sentence when police raided her home in September 2005.
Supporter Lezley Gibson said after the trial: "I cannot believe juries are so spineless.
"I hoped the jury would find her not guilty and that the law might change.
"The jury has not taken into account the fact that she is ill because the judge did not let them."
Source: www.skynews.co.uk
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The trial of Tabram, 68, who has been found guilty of possessing and growing cannabis, almost descended into farce when she said the smuggled dope had gone missing in the court locker room.
Judge Barbara Forrester twice cleared the court while a search was mounted and considered calling the police.
But almost two hours after proceedings were due to begin, grey-haired Tabram announced that she had found the drugs - which she intended to produce as evidence - in her handbag.
The jury found her guilty of two charges today after just 15 minutes, angering campaigners who hoped a Not guilty verdict would lead to a change in the law.
The court heard that police, acting on a tip-off, raided the Northumberland home of Tabram and found four cannabis plants growing in a wardrobe at her bungalow.
They also found powdered cannabis in a jar next to her cooker.
The court heard she used cannabis to ease depression, as well as aches and pains she still suffers from two car crashes.
The jury of six men and six women came back with unanimous guilty verdicts after a quarter of an hour.
Tabram, who defended herself, told the court: "I am old and I am tired and I am disappointed, not in the result but by the jury.
"I am disappointed in the attitude of the court regarding someone my age with my health problems and the way I deal with it.
"I just want to go home and get some rest."
"I cannot exclude a custodial sentence because you are in breach of a suspended sentence," the judge told her.
Tabram was in breach of a six-month suspended jail sentence when police raided her home in September 2005.
Supporter Lezley Gibson said after the trial: "I cannot believe juries are so spineless.
"I hoped the jury would find her not guilty and that the law might change.
"The jury has not taken into account the fact that she is ill because the judge did not let them."
Source: www.skynews.co.uk
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