A YOUNG Moreton mother who dealt cannabis in the town – and also assaulted a customer’s girlfriend – was spared jail.

Gemma Barnes, 20, walked free from Gloucester Crown Court carrying her baby son and smiling with delight after receiving a six month jail term suspended for two years.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC said he accepted motherhood had changed her lifestyle for the better.

Barnes, of Evenlode Road, pleaded guilty to supplying cannabis, having the drug with intent to supply and assaulting Charlotte Jeffcock.

Sentence was deferred from a previous hearing to allow her to have her baby and show she could turn over a new leaf.

Anwar Patel, mitigating, said: “The arrival of her child appears to have galvanised her efforts towards leading a better life and setting an example to that child.

She doesn’t hang around with the same people she used to. She is now a full time mother.

The baby is a healthy young lad.” At an earlier hearing Barnes was in the dock with her partner Dominic Russell, 22, of Padsey Road, Willersey, who admitted assaulting one of her cannabis customers, Anthony Philippson.

Russell has since received an eight month jail sentence suspended for two years and was also placed under home curfew from 8pm until 6am and ordered to pay £1,500 compensation to Mr Phillipson.

Julian Kesner, prosecuting, said Mr Phillipson paid Barnes £80 for eight grams of cannabis.

He found she gave him only 6.4g and he complained and demanded the rest.

There were exchanges of texts between them and then they met up in Moreton, with Mr Phillipson taking a knife steel up his sleeve.

Barnes sawit and there was a ‘Mexican stand-off ’ between her and her boyfriend and Mr Phillipson, said the prosecutor.

A flurry of threatening texts were exchanged between them before another meeting was arranged.

But this time Barnes and Phillipson went with three other men while Mr Phillipson had only his girlfriend Miss Jeffcock with him.

“Mr Phillipson was immediately attacked by Mr Russell,” said Mr Kesner.

“He was punched hard in the face and he went to the ground. On the ground he was repeatedly assaulted.

“As he was being attacked, his girlfriend was assaulted by Barnes.”

Judge Tabor told Barnes: “Motherhood appears to have changed your lifestyle.

It was a pretty insalubrious and unattractive lifestyle before. Small time drug dealing, a disgruntled client, violence and threats of violence and the like.

He ordered her to pay £250 compensation to Miss Jeffcock and an £80 surcharge.