SHE’S the drug dealer who got her start from the most unusual source - using cannabis Hampshire Police left behind after a raid.

But now Clare Hutchings has been jailed for eight months for selling more than £500 worth of ‘skunk’ cannabis.

Hutchings, 44, found two cannabis plants left behind by after a raid on a property she sub-let in Milton Road, Woolston.

The building was being used as a cannabis factory without her knowledge and police found 437 plants on site in July 2013.

After arriving to clear up the building, she took the buds and leaves home and claimed friends then convinced her to sell it on.

Hutchings, of Welland Green, Millbrook, was caught with just under 100g on her by police in August. They also found a logbook which showed she had sold £560 worth of the drug.

Defending, Alistair Wright said: “This was a quirk of fate that led to this with an element of desperation. It was a very sharp learning curve for someone who is to all intents and purposes of good character. There was absolutely no suggestion of widening the field. It was the suggestion of a couple of friends and it was to be sold to people known to them, not a commercial operation.”

Sentencing at Southampton Crown Court, Judge Peter Henry QC said it was “rather extraordinary” that police left cannabis behind but that was no excuse to begin selling the drug.

He said: “It’s quite clear you were in this for financial reasons and this was not simply to feed your habit.

“It seems to me that this went on for a number of days and weeks and involved some planning.”