A COUPLE from Newport was caught with cocaine hidden inside Kinder egg containers, a court has heard.

Police raided Vicki Holland's home in Wordsworth Road last December, finding drug paraphernalia and cocaine with a street value of up to £1,600.

She and Russell Cox were sentenced at Newport Crown Court on Thursday, after each admitting at an earlier court appearance one charge of possession with intent to supply cocaine, a class-A drug.

The pair were both upstairs when police officers executed a drug warrant at Holland's home on December 1, 2019.

Officers found some of the cocaine prepared in wraps for deals typically worth £20-30.

Evidence on the defendants' phones "demonstrated both were involved in the supply of cocaine," prosecution barrister Roger Griffiths told the court.

Benjamin Waters, defending Cox, said his client had been unable to fund his own drug addiction and had built up a debt.

He also sought professional help for his drug habit because it was "getting out of control and he wanted to put matters right," Mr Waters said, adding that Cox has been "drug-free" since May.

Cox, 42, also sought work and was employed as a delivery driver for a local kebab shop, he added.

"He is very disappointed in the way he behaved and that he brought his partner in," Mr Waters told the court.

Scott Bowen, defending Holland, said she "accepted she got involved and did so rather stupidly".

He told the court that mum-of-four Holland, 36, has "done her best to put her life back on track" and had stopped her drug use.

Mr Bowen said Holland's "biggest dread" was what would happen to her four young children if she were sent to prison.

The judge, Recorder Duncan Bould, told the defendants: "The use of class-A drugs such as cocaine does destroy people's lives.

"You found it has blighted both your lives."

He acknowledged Cox had "taken responsibility for what was going on" and that Holland had a "different role".

"You'd never have engaged in this kind of behaviour if it hadn't been for the relationship," the judge told Holland.

Cox, of Pentre Close, Cwmbran, was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Holland, of Wordsworth Road, Newport, was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for 24 months.