A 33-YEAR-OLD Darwen woman failed to appear in court because she was hiding from Merseyside drug dealers.
Blackburn magistrates were told there had been a lot of drug related problems in Darwen in recent months including the murder of a man.
Damian Pickup, defending, said people from the Liverpool area had been manipulating drug dealers in Darwen and Sarah Healey, who was a user, had got caught up in the trouble.
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“She has found herself continually hiding from these people and that was why she didn’t turn up at curt,” said Mr Pickup.
“Over the weekend my firm was contacted by a detective who advised us that Sarah Healey was in danger,” said Mr Pickup.
“She says the CID have told her that they will come to her home address in Blackburn and fit alarm equipment if she is released today.”
Healey, 33, of Blackburn, was convicted in her absence of three charges of shoplifting and pleaded guilty to a fourth.
She was sent in custody to Preston Crown Court to be sentenced after the court heard the offences put her in breach of a suspended prison sentence.
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