A wheelchair-using heroin dealer has been spared jail following her arrest in a covert police operation. 

Elizabeth Balaam, 67, used her own home on Old Bury Road in Thetford to sell drugs to street addicts. 

When police burst into her property in September 2022 she was in the process of weighing up and bagging quantities of street heroin.

Two containers of brown powder were discovered in a coffee table together with a small pre-packed bag containing about 20g grams, with an estimated street value of more than £1,000.

Police had a property at Old Bury Road in Thetford under surveillancePolice had a property at Old Bury Road in Thetford under surveillance (Image: Google)

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Oliver Haswell, prosecuting, told Norwich Crown Court Balaam had been: “Dealing in drugs worth hundreds of pounds at a time, not just single wrap deals”.

Balaam, who has 28 previous convictions for 74 offences including selling crack cocaine, initially denied possessing class A drugs with intent to supply. She changed her plea to admit it a month before her planned trial.

Judge David Pugh suspended a two year sentence for 24 months after hearing she had turned to dealing in order to fund her own drug addiction. 

He said: “I accept that because of your vulnerability there was some degree of exploitation and that there was limited financial advantage which was mainly to fund your own habit.”

The court heard Balaam had become addicted while married to her ex-husband, but had began bulk buying heroin and dealing it to other addicts in recent years. 

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Her activities came to light after a police surveillance operation that monitored a large number of known addicts, visiting her home on regular occasions.

One woman seen leaving had been found in possession of white powder later identified as diamorphine, known to users as street heroin.

John Morgans, mitigating, said Balaam was now getting help and treatment for her addiction.

“She is in very poor health and is terrified of custody. She doesn’t know what care would be available in prison and she is effectively on oxygen 24 hours a day,” he said.