A great grandmother stashed drugs in her bra during a police raid, a court heard.
Lily Gordon lifted up her top and removed several packages containing illegal substances when asked by officers if she was hiding anything, a court heard today.
The 65-year-old claimed: "I know you won’t believe me but I found them."
Officers descended on Gordon's Salford home in 2018 and caught the defendant trying to bury a package in a plant pot in her back garden, reports Manchester Evening News.
They asked what she was hiding and she replied: "Something I found over there."
Officers then found three silver-wrapped cannabis resin bars, the court heard.
Three years on from the seizure due to various delays in the case, Gordon pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cannabis and possession of diamorphine.
Prosecutor Eleanor Gleeson said that there had been "inordinate" delays in the case before it made its way to court.
“The offences were committed in December 2018, the drugs were sent off for analysis and didn’t come back until April 2019 to confirm they were diamorphine and cannabis,” she said.
“There was a further delay until October 2019 which was chased by the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) and found that simply GMP did not send what was required of them to authorise the charge properly.”
She said the delay continued due to the police not providing the correct evidence and due to inactivity, the case was put to one side.
GMP later sent the relevant evidence in September 2020 and over a year later in October 2021, the case was reopened.
It later became apparent that part of the delay was due to the officer in the case being on maternity leave.
Ms Gleeson said that on December 11, 2018, officers attended a house on Wall Street, and found Gordon at the back of the home trying to bury "something silver" into the soil in a plant pot.
“The officer asked 'What are you hiding Lily' to which she replied: 'Something over there' and pointed towards the bins in the garden,” she said.
The officer searched the plant pot and found three silver-wrapped cannabis resin bars.
The house was then searched and no drugs were found.
Another officer searched Gordon and asked if she had anything on her and she replied “no”.
“As the officer began the search, she asked if the defendant had anything inside her bra", Ms Gleeson told the court.
“She then lifted her bra and removed one larger brown bag and four small bags of a brown substance.
“She then said, “I know you won’t believe me but I found them”.
They also seized an iPhone, a Nokia and a bank card in her name in her coat pocket.
The drugs were analysed and found to be 46.5 grams of cannabis and 7.865 grams of diamorphine.
The cannabis was valued at £232.50, the court heard.
Gordon was said to have two previous convictions for five offences, all of which were for possession of cannabis.
Mitigating, Jane Miller said she had made continuous efforts to contact the police to find out what was going on in the case over the course of the three years.
“During that period she had the expectation that the proceedings were coming her way,” she said.
“Also, during this time, her daughter has died.
“She is ashamed to be appearing here today in relation to the proceedings.”
She said her client has two sons, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Her daughter died in 2019.
Sentencing her, Recorder Graham Wells said: “You did try to hide it and you weren’t being initially honest about it right from the start, but you did indicate you were going to plead guilty.
“This has taken far, far too long to come to court.
“In the meantime, I have read in your pre-sentence report that you have given up smoking cannabis and have tried to put things right.”
Gordon, of Liverpool Street, was handed a 12-month community order, a three-month curfew between 7pm and 7am - she was also fined £100.
