A FEMALE drug dealer gave her bank details to customers so that they could pay for cocaine by electronic transfer.

But hospital care worker Frankie O’Brian, from Ebbw Vale, claims she was “under some pressure” to do so by an unnamed man.

The 29-year-old, of Wordsworth Close, admitted possessing the class A drug with intent to supply on that basis.

Prosecutor David Pugh told Cardiff Crown Court how O’Brian’s home was raided by police on July 6 last year.

He said: “The defendant was there with a younger man and during the search police found five bags of white powder, small weighing scales and £50 in cash.”

The judge, Recorder Nicholas Gareth Jones, heard the powder was cocaine with a street value of between £175 and £200.

Mr Pugh said a white iPhone was also seized which contained “numerous” drug-related messages which included the defendant giving out her bank details so she could be paid by transfer.

He told how one message read: “’I don’t sell to young ones like 18-year-olds anymore.’

Mr Pugh said: “She was explaining why her business had declined.”

Hr added that O’Brian, who wept throughout the proceedings as she sat in the dock, was a “low level street dealer.”

The court heard she worked as a care assistant at a hospital.

Jeffrey Jones, defending, said his client was “under some pressure to deal”.

The prosecution refuse to accept her basis of plea and Recorder Jones adjourned the case.

He told O’Brian that a trial of issue will be held on Monday, May 20 to decide the outcome of the matter and on what basis she will be sentenced.

She was granted bail.