Heroin dealer spared jail after telling judge there will be no one to care for her CATS
A HEROIN dealer has been spared jail after a judge heard her two cats would suffer if she was locked up.
The judge heard her two cats would suffer if she was locked up
Even though Judge Jamie Tabor told Kathleen Paccione he was "95 per cent sure" she would not stick to the terms of her suspended sentence, and her probation team said they had concerns about her being freed, he allowed her to leave court.
Paccione, from Cheltenham, admitted possession and supplying heroin at Gloucester Crown Court.
Judge Tabor gave her 18-months jail suspended for two years
It's a 95 per cent chance you will come back
She was caught with 17 wraps of heroin by an undercover police officer while subject to a community order for theft committed last August.
The 44-year-old has a lengthy criminal record, mainly for shoplifting.
She claimed no-one would look after her cats
She begged the judge not to jail her as she claimed there would be no-one to look after her cats if she went to jail.
She pleaded: "But I've got two cats."
Judge Tabor gave her 18-months jail suspended for two years and he ordered her to undergo a 35 day rehabilitation activity requirement and six months drug rehab.
He ordered her to undergo a 35 day rehabilitation activity
He told her: "It's a 95 per cent chance you will come back. Prove me wrong."
But he warned her: "Any breach of the order, any taking drugs and you will be back before me and, cats or no cats, it'll be prison."