TWO "drug addicts" who were caught in bed when police raided their property have been jailed for running a drug line in the city.

Lee Brown and Sancha Corby have been put behind bars after running the county drug line operating in Colchester.

Both were in bed when police carried out an early morning raid at their accommodation in Charles Pell Road in Colchester on July 9, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

The drug line was found on the bed between them and when it was examined it was found to have sent out bulk marketing messages advertising the sales of drugs and received messages from customers placing orders.

An expert who examined the messages estimated that the value of drugs involved could have been as much as £52,000.

The court heard that both defendants gave no comment answers during police interviews.

Sentencing the pair on Thursday (September 12) Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley said they were both drug addicts and the money they were making from selling drugs had been used to feed their own habits.

She said it was a significant operation being run jointly by both of them.

Brown, 54, and Corby, 28, both of Charles Pell Road, Colchester admitted being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin between February 12 and July 8 this year.

They were each jailed for 28 months and Corby, who was in breach of a suspended sentence order, was jailed for an additional six weeks.

The court heard that Brown, who has 29 previous convictions, hadn’t previously served a prison sentence and that Corby, who has 61 previous convictions, had a long standing drug addiction.

A hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act will take place after March next year after investigators have assessed their assets.