A SINGLE mother who picked up a package containing cocaine worth up to £380 in an Ipswich alleyway has received a 12-month conditional discharge.Marlene White, of Marigold Avenue, Ipswich, pleaded guilty to possessing Class A drugs after picking up the package containing 21 wraps of cocaine from a gap in a fence in the alleyway near Poppy Close.

A SINGLE mother who picked up a package containing cocaine worth up to £380 in an Ipswich alleyway has received a 12-month conditional discharge.

Marlene White, of Marigold Avenue, Ipswich, pleaded guilty to possessing Class A drugs after picking up the package containing 21 wraps of cocaine from a gap in a fence in the alleyway near Poppy Close.

During a hearing at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court, prosecutor David Hutson told the court that police swooped on July 13 after White, 31, pushed her child in a pram along the alleyway and was seen to pick up the package.

However before being arrested she had placed it back, just inches from its original location.

"Police were aware down that alleyway, in a gap in the fence, there was a quantity of cocaine," Mr Hutson said during the hearing.

"She pushes a pram down the alley, she picks them up and moves them to another location. Officers then swoop and she is arrested."

Police found the 19 wraps to have a potential street value of between £190 and £380.

Mr Hutson said White had a previous conviction for possession of cannabis and was on a 12-month community rehabilitation order at the time of the offence.

Representing the mother-of-two, Ian Duckworth said after picking up the package his client put it down again as soon as she realised what it was.

"She's gone along the alleyway with her child, sees the item, picks it up and is then arrested.

"During the millisecond it was in her possession she realised what it was and put it back."

Mr Duckworth appealed to magistrates to limit punishment for the offence to a conditional discharge or a fine.

Magistrate Bernard Turner gave White a 12-month conditional discharge, ordered her to pay £55 towards prosecution costs and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the cocaine.