A MOTHER-of-six drug addict who supplied cocaine to fund her habit has failed in an Appeal Court bid to cut her prison sentence.

Debra Kirkman, aged 35, of Rix Street, Bolton, was jailed for four years at Bolton Crown Court on July 19 last year after pleading guilty to three counts of supplying the drug.

London's Court of Appeal, ruled the sentence was not "manifestly excessive".

The judges rejected lawyers' arguments that her sentence should be cut for the sake of her children who have been split between their two sets of grandparents since their mother was imprisoned.

The court heard how an undercover officer who was part of an operation to weed out dealers got a lead and went to Kirkman's home in November 2001.

He found her smoking the drug through a pipe and paid £20 for a wrap. He returned twice the following month and made purchases, the judge said.

Dismissing he appeal, Mr Justice Jackson said that, while the court had "considerable sympathy for the children", substantial jail terms had to be imposed in such cases to deter others from dealing in death.

He concluded: "These drugs wreck the lives of young people. We do not, with regret, feel that the personal circumstances of this defendant make this court able to reduce this perfectly proper sentence."