A 34-year-old Penygroes cleaner caught with four bags of heroin has told magistrates she was glad the police arrested her.

Jay Anderson Livingston Thompson, of 3 Llys y Bugail, handed over the bags, containing 0.49 grammes of the Class A drug when plain clothes officers swooped outside her home at 5.25pm on May 21.

Gerald Neave, prosecuting, told Llanelli court how the officers had stationed themselves near Thompson’s home and waited for her to arrive.

When they confronted her, she immediately handed over the drugs.

She was initially arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply, however Thompson convinced officers the drugs were for her own use.

“I bought a couple of bags for myself to use,” she told them. “I was not supplying. I am not a supplier.”

Peter Martin, defending, said Thompson was “someone who historically has had a problem with heroin, and a quite a serious one”.

“However,” Mr Martin said, “she got clean of it and it has not been a problem for many, many years.”

He described how, after giving up drugs, Thompson got married and she and her husband set up a successful cleaning business.

“In April, her husband had a heart attack and the business collapsed around them,” said Mr Martin.

“The pressure began to get to her again and little by little she began to dabble again.

“The arrest has made her look starkly at her life. It has been a shock to her and made her take stock of everything.

“She realises that this is not a path she wants to go down again. She wants nothing more to do with this drug.

“She says she was pleased when the police found her.”

Tests showed Thompson had not used the drug “for some months”.

Magistrates agreed to grant her a two-year conditional discharge.

She was also ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £15 legal surcharge.