A DRUG addict who sold heroin to an undercover policeman failed in an appeal against her prison sentence.

Angelina Susan Gaughan, 42, of Northstead, Ravensthorpe, originally escaped being jailed for the offence when she was given a community order last June.

But Gaughan, who admitted supplying heroin, breached conditions of her release and was jailed for two years at Leeds Crown Court in March. She appealed yesterday, but had her case rejected by Lord Justice Jackson and Mr Justice Calvert-Smith at the Court of Appeal.

Gaughan was caught out in November 2009 when an undercover test purchase officer telephoned a known drug dealer.

Gaughan answered and said she was minding the phone but willing to meet him to supply him with £20 worth of the dealer’s heroin.

After she had been arrested Gaughan said she had been in an abusive relationship and felt under pressure to supply on her partner’s behalf. It was the first time she had done so. Her lawyers argued that two years behind bars was “manifestly excessive” for an offender who was an addict and not working for financial gain.

The appeal judge said: “The appellant has a bad record, but the record is one typical of a drug user or addict, in that it is principally offences of dishonesty, no doubt committed in an attempt to raise funds to fund drug use.

“We have to ask ourselves whether the sentence was manifestly excessive. We take the view that it falls within the range of sentences open to the sentencing judge. It is comforting to see she is making use of her time in prison and we see no ground for interfering with the length of the sentence.”