A WOMAN who acted as driver for a County Lines drug dealer from Kingsteignton has been spared a jail sentence.

Wanda Bubeer was driving William Brown to deliver drugs in South Devon when they were stopped by the police and he was bringing heroin and cocaine from Liverpool to Devon.

A judge at Exeter Crown Court warned her that she will go to jail unless she stays out of trouble during the period of a suspended sentence.

Brown was jailed for five and a half years in April for two offences of drug dealing and slashing a client with a bottle in Newton Abbot over a drug debt of just £150.

Bubeer was involved in only the second of his drug offences when he threw packages out of the window but they were recovered by police.

She said she had no idea of the scale of what he was doing and not involved in his wider drug dealing.

Bubeer, aged 40, of Southlands Road, Torquay, admitted possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and was jailed for 21 months, suspended for two years, curfewed for two months and ordered to do 20 days of rehabilitation activities.

Judge Stephen Climie said: ‘Your basis of plea shows you did an extraordinarily stupid act which put you at risk of immediate imprisonment. I am not sending you to prison today but will do if you commit any more offences in the next two years.’

Mr Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, told an earlier hearing that Brown transported £9,100 worth of heroin and crack from Liverpool to Torquay in a hire car on April 2, 2020. 

He threw the drugs out of the window but they were recovered by police. Bubeer later accepted she knew it was a drugs run.

Mr Paul Dentith, defending, said Bubeer’s basis of plea, which made clear her involvement and knowledge were minimal, had been accepted by the prosecution.

He said she has sought help for her own issues and has significant caring responsibilities.

Brown, aged 21, of Whiteway Road, Kingsteignton, admitted wounding, four counts of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply, and possession of criminal property.

He was jailed for a total of five years and six months by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court in April.