A MEDICAL secretary has told a jury she had no idea her home was being used for cocaine distribution and was very angry when she found out.

Julie Firth, who works at the paediatric unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary, is on trial at Bradford Crown Court denying that she allowed the supply of Class A drugs from her house in Farfield Crescent, Wibsey, Bradford.

Firth, 48, said she had spent all her working life with the National Health Service, beginning in the mental health sector.

She had never been in any trouble with the police before and had lived at the Wibsey address for 10 years.

Firth is accused of knowing “full well” that her home was being used to distribute large quantities of cocaine.

Prosecutor Stephen Wood alleged her eyes were wide open when she allowed her partner, Richard Brown, to store two kilos of cocaine with a street value of £106,000 at the house.

The drugs were seized, along with numerous phones, £8,000 in cash and 22 packages of baking soda, said to be used as adulterant to bulk up the cocaine, when the police raided the property on August 10 last year.

The court has heard that Brown had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Asked by her barrister, Peter Hampton: “Did you know, between April and August 2017, of the Class A drugs in your home?” Firth replied: “Not at all.”

She said she was very angry about the situation she and her children had been placed in by Brown.

Firth told the jury she met Brown about 18 years ago and it was an “on off” relationship.

He spent much of his time in Jamaica and did not live at her house. He turned up on occasions but otherwise, he could be anywhere.

He had written several books and ran a music company.

Brown made no regular contribution to the household expenses, but he sometimes gave her £100 for shopping.

Firth said she did not realise that a carrier bag Brown asked her to hand to a man called John Lowcock contained drugs. The jury has heard that Lowcock turned up at the house in a blue Mercedes, shortly before the police searched the property, to collect the bag.

Firth told the jury she did not ask Brown what was in the bag or look at its contents.

She was very busy and her home had many carrier bags in it.

“I assumed it was books. He is a writer and a publisher and he has sold books in the past,” she said.

Brown ordered the baking soda because he did a lot of baking, she said. He mistakenly sent for 24 packages on Amazon instead of just one.

The trial continues.