A MUM from Cirencester who worked with her husband in a Cotswolds drug dealing operation has avoided jail.

Toni Woodward, aged 31, of School Lane, Cirencester, was given a two year suspended sentence at Gloucester Crown Court on Tuesday, January 16 after pleading guilty to possessing cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply.

She also admitted possessing £17,760 in cash from drug dealing on Thursday, May 25.

Judge Rupert Lowe told her that sentencing guidelines called for her to receive a jail term of more than two years.

However, he decided to pass a suspended sentence instead because of the effect imprisonment would have on her children.

The judge also ordered Woodward to complete 15 rehabilitation activity days, to pay a £400 fine plus £200 in costs.

Woodward's husband Nathan is already serving a four year jail term after Cotswold and Stroud Police Vanguard Team uncovered £80,000 worth of cannabis and cocaine during a raid of their property on Thursday, May 25.

Inside the property officers found £17,760 in cash, two sets of weighing scales and a diary which showed that the couple had been dealing drugs for at least three years.

The diary also contained a tick list of names and the amount of money people owed.

Prosecutor Rhianna Fricker said: "Ms Woodward’s mobile phone was also seized and it contained messages indicating drug supply.

“In a text exchange between the couple, Ms Woodward demonstrates that she became more involved in the operation and would inform her husband how much cocaine was left, how much money they had made that day and how much they were owed.

“This demonstrates that she was playing the role of an accountant in the latter days of the operation and had taken on the weighing and packaging of the drugs.

“In the garden, hidden inside a sealed blue container, there was a black bag containing 859 grams of cannabis, valued at £8,590, and another sports bag of white powder which turned out to be cocaine with a purity of 88 per cent with a street value of £40,000.

“Police sniffer dogs also located drugs in a van parked on the  driveway which amounted to 413 grams of cocaine, which had a street valuation of £32,000.”

Méabh McGee, defending Ms Woodward, said: "Woodward has children, all of which have their own difficulties, and this has been exacerbated since her husband was jailed.

"I believe that in the interest of justice a non-immediate custodial sentence could be imposed and she could serve her sentence in the community.”

The judge told Ms Woodward: “These offences are very serious because of the amount of cocaine that is involved.

“However, after hearing about your personal circumstances and the effect imprisonment would have on your children, I find that a prison term is possibly disproportionate and unjust.

“Therefore I am sentencing you to a two year prison term, suspended for two years.”