Grandmother busted for possessing cocaine at bingo hall

DUBLIN – Helen Heaphy's number came up at the bingo hall. The prize was a trip to court.

The 50-year-old grandmother pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of possessing cocaine for sale or supply after Irish police caught her with the narcotic outside a Cork bingo hall.

Cork District Court Judge Leo Malone accepted her lawyer's plea for clemency citing her family obligations and her possession of a relatively small amount of the drug worth 350 euros ($400). Heaphy insisted she was holding the cocaine for an unspecified friend.

Malone fined Heaphy 750 euros ($870) but gave her no jail time, despite having two prior convictions for drugs possession and obstructing a police narcotics unit. She even was allowed to go back to playing bingo at the hall after the owner relented.