A MOTHER-of-two wept as a court heard how she forced a 14-year-old boy to sell drugs on her behalf.

Andrea Warburton, 43, paid off a drug debt for the desperate teenager, who owed money to another dealer.

But in order to repay her she encouraged the child to deal cannabis to his friends, with her offending only coming to light when his worried mother approached social services.

At Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Alison Whalley, prosecuting, said on September 26, 2019, police officers raided Warburton’s home on Cornwall Drive, Bury.

The teenager was upstairs at the time and tried to escape but officers later identified him.

They discovered cannabis bush and £300 in cash in the room he had been in, with more cannabis also found downstairs.

Officers valued the amount of cannabis seized at over £3,450 if sold and they also discovered a quantity of amphetamine in the freezer worth £1,600.

Scales and snap bags were also recovered and mobile phones seized.

Messages on the teenager’s phone showed him telling Warburton he could not afford to eat or buy clothes because any money he made went to her.

“You aren’t giving me the full amount,” she replied. “It is always short so you’re always behind and that’s how it’s built up.”

Dan Gaskell, defending, said Warburton, who pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cannabis and possession of amphetamine, said the teenager’s mother had instigated the arrangement between her son and the defendant.

He said she was a mother-of-two who was recently separated from her partner.

Handing Warburton, who sobbed throughout the hearing, a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and 180 hours of unpaid work, Judge Tina Landale, said: “It’s hard to think of a more horrendous situation and you sit there and weep. I hope you are thoroughly ashamed of yourself.”