MERCY FOR MUM FORCED TO SMUGGLE DRUGS

A MOTHER forced by prison hardmen to smuggle heroin into a jail was
yesterday shown mercy by a judge.

After years of trying to help addicts and their families, Maureen Kelly,
44, turned courier because of fear and misguided loyalty to her convict
brother, said Lord Kirkwood.

First offender Kelly wept with relief when she was put on probation for two
years and ordered to carry out 300 hours of community work.

Her plea for leniency had been backed by letters from a minister and drug
counselling groups detailing the work she had done for them.

Lord Kirkwood also heard that two of her brothers had died as a result of
drug abuse.

Kelly, of Raithburn Ave-nue, Castlemilk, Glasgow, had pleaded guilty to
being concerned in the supply of heroin, Valium and cannabis at Shotts
Prison in May 1998.

The High Court heard how her brother, serving a 10-year sentence, had
pleaded for her help in letters.

Two of the high-security jail's most infamous inmates had threatened to
slash his face unless she brought in a package of drugs, said Paul McBride,
defending.

Eventually, Kelly gave in but police had been tipped off and she was
arrested with heroin with a street value of pounds 860, Valium worth pounds
10 to pounds 20 and cannabis worth pounds 100.