A 36-year-old Worcestershire beautician who smuggled cannabis inside her bra to a boyfriend in jail has been spared an immediate jail sentence.

Alison Stokes got past the initial security at HMP Hewell, in Tardebigge, near Bromsgrove, but was spotted on CCTV putting £10 worth of cannabis into a crisp packet to pass across the table while she was visiting her then boyfriend, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Stokes, of Prospect Place, Malvern, pleaded guilty to taking the banned item into a prison on December 27 last year.

Michael Conry, prosecuting, told the court Stokes had smuggled the cannabis into the jail inside her bra.

Simon Cooper, defending, said she had taken it in because she feared her boyfriend at the time - now her ex-partner - was becoming involved with more dangerous synthetic psychoactive drugs.

"It shows a degree of naivety," he said. "Anyone who takes drugs into a prison stands a very good chance of being caught."

He said Stokes was a reformed drug addict and a qualified beautician who was hoping to find work but was currently suffering from anxiety and depression and living on benefits.

"Supplying drugs into the prison environment adds to ill discipline," Judge Nicholas Cole said .

The offence would normally carry immediate custody but he had decided to suspend the sentence as it was a very unsophisticated attempt and the amount of cannabis was very low.

She was given four months suspended for twelve months and ordered to undertake a 10 day rehabilition programme and to do 100 hours of unpaid work.