Woman spared jail after judge discovers she's living in a tent
A woman who breached a suspended jail sentence has been spared prison after a judge discovered she's living in a tent.
Leanna Hutchison, 34, was facing a custodial sentence for breaching a suspended jail term for possession of crack cocaine.
However, when Judge Mark Bury heard that she had been living in a tent for the past two months, he decided to give her "another chance".
He said: "You have been lucky so far that it's not been cold. When it gets cold, you won't like it in a tent, will you? We can't have a 34-year-old lady living in a tent."
Hutchison escaped a custodial sentence last year after police found her with crack cocaine following a raid, and was instead handed a suspended jail term. But when she breached the three-month suspended sentence, imposed last December, she was brought back before the court.
Stephen Robinson, prosecuting at Hull Crown Court, said that police raided a house and found Hutchison sitting on a bed with a small amount of crack cocaine next to her on the bed.
He said she already had convictions for shoplifting and theft, indicating a drugs habit, and had failed to attend two probation appointments in May.
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The court heard that Hutchison was homeless and living in a tent after being "kicked out" of a shared house for women because she allowed her homeless boyfriend to live there. It heard she was juggling prescribed methadone with heroin.
Judge Bury told her: "You have got yourself into a bit of a pickle."
He told Hutchison to take more of the methadone and less heroin to top it up, rather than ending up taking more heroin after cutting down on the methadone.
Hutchison's lifestyle was described in court as "quite chaotic". She has a five-year-old son but does not have responsibility for looking after him.
Her father is, according to Hutchison, a 68-year-old alcoholic and her mother lives in Australia, the court heard.
Judge Bury told her: "I am going to give you another chance. Take it, though. I am not sending you to prison today but you have got to do your part.
"You have got to carry on trying to get off drugs completely. If you don't do what you are supposed to do, you might be in prison. You won't like it in prison."
Hutchison was given five extra days' rehabilitation. She said: "Thank you for giving me another chance."
