A self-described drug addict may get the help she says she needs to get clean after she was caught with a homemade crack pipe.

Denise Wilkinson, 44, of Curving Avenue, Pembroke, pleaded guilty yesterday in Magistrates' Court to possession of a homemade crack pipe.

Senior Crown counsel Robert Welling said Wilkinson was caught with the drug equipment on January 21 on Elliot Street in Hamilton.

The makeshift pipe was fashioned out of a miniature liquor bottle with wire mesh in the opening and a hole bored into it.

Police approached Wilkinson after receiving reports of drug activity in the area.

She became nervous and began to fidget with something in her pocket, Mr. Welling said.

Officers found the drug equipment concealed in her hand and informed her that she was to be arrested under suspicion of possession of drug equipment.

The pipe was later analysed by a Government analyst and found to contain traces of cocaine.

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner highlighted Wilkinson's handful of similar convictions in the past.

"Yes I have been before the court for drugs in the past but it has been ten years," she said. "I have not been in trouble for ten years."

Mr. Warner asked Wilkinson if she is interested in drug treatment, to which she replied: "Yes, sir."

Mr. Warner ordered a drug assessment and Social Inquiry Report.

The matter was adjourned until August 25. Pending the results of the reports, Mr. Warner will order Wilkinson into a drug treatment programme.