The sentencing of a woman whose house was taken over by drug dealers was delayed after her lawyer failed to turn-up at court.

Kirsty Buchan, 47, attended Oxford Crown Court on Monday expecting to learn her fate, having pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

But Judge Michael Gledhill QC was forced to adjourn her case until Friday after a ‘breakdown in communications’ meant her barrister was absent. He is understood to have thought the matter was taken out the list.

READ MORE: Home was taken over by drug dealers

“It’s an unusual course I’m taking because it’s not right you don’t have representation here today,” he told the defendant.

Earlier, prosecutor Philip Misner said the charges followed a raid on Buchan’s home in Witney in September 2020.

The Crown Prosecution Service accepted she had been ‘cuckooed’ by out-of-town drug dealers who had taken over her flat as a base from which to sell their product.

Mr Misner told Judge Gledhill: “It’s clear she’s an addict whose addiction has been exploited so she would comply with the requests of others.”

At a hearing last month, the prosecution formally dropped charges against a young London woman who they accepted had been trafficked to Buchan’s Witney home and was being made to sell heroin and crack cocaine.

Buchan, of New Bridge Street, Witney, will be sentenced on June 10.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward