A YOUNG woman convicted of drug offences broke down in tears as a judge told her she would not be going to prison.

Chloe Coe, 24, was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Tuesday (July 25) after being caught by police with £640 in street value of Class A drugs.

She tried to flea police on February 5, 2021 but crashed her vehicle into two other cars, writing them off.

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Coe, of Furnival Avenue, Slough, was handed a 22-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months by Judge Kirsty Real.

Opening the case, prosecuting barrister Jonathan Sank said: “In the middle of the morning, officers in a marked police vehicle saw Miss Coe driving a car and they decided to follow it.

“It stopped outside a block of flats in Berrycroft Road and the officers pulled up alongside to speak to her through the window.

“One officer noticed she had a burner phone on her lap which, in a moment when he looked away, she used that time to conceal it.

“When he looked back and it was gone the officer challenged her about that. The officer then asked her to turn off the vehicle and step out.

“But instead of doing that she put the vehicle in gear and speed off, mounting the curb which appeared to have caused a tyre to blow and shortly after that she collided with an oncoming car causing severe damage to the front of the vehicle which had to be written off.

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“The defendant’s car was then shunted into a parked car causing damage to that and it too was written off.”

Coe, who was 22 at the time, was then arrested. At the police station she said: “I’m sorry for driving like that, like an idiot.”

A member of the public who witnessed the incident noted she had thrown something out of the car which was later found by officers and identified as Class A drugs. Further drugs were also found in her car and in her jacket at the police station.

Defending Coe, her barrister said the incident was ‘impulsive and stupid’ and Coe’s involvement was ‘through naivety’.

He said she had a ‘challenging upbringing’ and was suffering with mental health issues at the time.

Sentencing Coe, Judge Real said: “You’ve kept out of trouble since then it seems. If there had not been a delay [in proceedings], you would have gone into custody.”

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Coe will also need to complete 15 rehabilitation days and a mental health treatment requirement.

She is also disqualified from driving for 12 months and will need to take an extended retest.