heard on Friday.

Minks, 31, of St. George's, had unsuccessfully battled a seven-year drugs problem, according to a social inquiry report.

Minks, who was Miss Bermuda in 1980, admitted in Magistrates' Court that she had received two items of stolen gold jewellery last February. She was sentenced to two years probation.

The Wor. Cheryl-Ann Mapp, noting Minks' confessed addiction to heroin, said she was unable to get her on a methadone treatment programme due to a long waiting list.

She asked probation officer Mr. Melvin Simmons to try and help Minks find part-time work in the meantime to keep her busy and out of bad company for the next four months.

"We are not able to put you on the programme which is certainly frustrating to us,'' Mrs. Mapp said. "But in trying to help you we are hampered by the red tape and limits in the Island's supply of methadone.'' Noting Minks had said in a social inquiry that she had been fighting drug addiction for seven years, Mrs. Mapp told her: "You are only going downhill fast if you continue to carry on the way you are going.'' Mrs. Mapp ordered Minks to reappear in court on June 9 for a progress report and to attend drug counselling sessions.

Minks was crowned Miss Bermuda at the age of 16. She succeeded Jill Murphy in mid-term.