A WOMAN has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for trying to smuggle ecstasy tablets in to Creamfields.

Lorna Beeby attempted to take nearly £1,000 worth of the drug into the Daresbury festival on Saturday August 29 last year.

The 22-year-old had travelled from her home in Sunderland and was asked by a fellow reveller on her minibus to smuggle 95 ecstasy tablets into the dance festival.

Chester Crown Court heard on Monday that Beeby had consumed several cans of alcohol during the journey and agreed.

Security officers conducted a hand swab on her which revealed traces of cocaine.

Beeby was asked to voluntarily dispose of any drugs she had but denied possessing any.

When she was taken for further searches, Beeby admitted to a police officer that she did have drugs and produced 95 ecstasy tablets, which the court heard retailed at around £10 inside the festival, in a condom.

Beeby, who works at Sunderland Royal Hospital, asked the officer: “They’re not mine, can I go?”

She admitted possession of ecstasy with intent to supply and wept as she was jailed.

Sentencing, Judge Roger Dutton said: “You have made an appallingly bad decision to try to take these drugs into Creamfields.

“These drugs were taken in quantities to be sold and those people who choose to take in not just one or two tablets but nearly 100 tablets must understand that when caught they will be dealt with severely.

“You chose to take the risk knowing what the consequences would be.

“It makes it all the more distressing, not just for you but for your family and others who find it difficult to understand why you risked everything to make a fast buck – it’s beyond understanding frankly.”

Judge Dutton also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.

Beeby, who had no previous convictions, was described as a ‘wholesome and decent person’ whose life had been ‘torn apart by what has happened’.