Picture: SWNS

A mother purchased 12 bags of cocaine so that her daughter ‘had a good time’ on her 18th birthday, a court heard.

Nicola Austen, 37, also hired a limousine for the birthday bash, but was arrested after police raided her home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in January.

Police discovered 5.65 grams of the Class A drug stashed in her bedroom window - totalling £300.

Austin, who has six previous convictions including drug possession, admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and received a nine month prison sentence suspended for a year.

She was also ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.

Prosecutor Prosecutor Craig Evans told Maidstone Crown Court: ‘They were going to London in a limousine and she wanted to make sure they had a good time.’

Austen was only spared jail after Danny Moore, defending, claimed that a prison sentence would have an adverse effect on a young boy in the family.

He added that Austen also provided respite and care for her grandmother.

‘It is to her great shame she finds herself in court. She appeared to have left this sort of thing behind.’, he said.