A DRUG-dealing mother who sold crack and heroin on Hampshire’s streets is today behind bars.

Shaking her head as she was sentenced, Kelly Turrell, 24, of Eastleigh, was jailed for four and a half years for her part in a sophisticated crime ring.

She has previously pleaded guilty to four counts of possession and supplying class A drugs after a police raid uncovered 60 bags of crack cocaine and 45 bags of heroin in a make-up bag by her toilet.

The drugs had a street value of £2,000.

After her arrest police found messages on her mobile phone linking her to a drug boss higher up the supply chain.

Through her defence barrister, Charles MacLean, she claimed that if she was spared a prison sentence to go back into education, she would return to live with her parents and turn her back on the life of crime.

Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley said Turrell had earned up to £130 a day selling the drugs for her boss and used the money in part to fund a £20-a-day heroin habit.

She went on to say she had 12 previous convictions for dishonesty and one for dealing in heroin and crack.

Sentencing at Southampton Crown Court, Judge Derwin Hope said: “You were a drug runner on the streets of Southampton for a sophisticated and well run drug operation.”

He described the crime as “extremely serious” and said he wanted to send a message to others as he handed down four terms of 54 months in prison to run concurrently.

The police investigation started on Christmas Eve when Turrell, who has one child, was spotted taking part in what was thought to be a drug deal near her home in Saxon Road.

She was then put under surveillance and arrested on January 2.