A Harrods sales assistant who admitted smuggling a mobile phone to her criminal boyfriend as he sat in a dock wept as she was spared jail.

Part-time model, actress and beauty contest finalist Holly Salter, 22, handed the phone to her lover James Kerr at Harrow crown court in July last year.

Salter, of Hampton, pleaded guilty at Kingston crown court yesterday to "conveyancing an article to a prisoner".

Sarah Turnoch, defending, told the court: "She was in a relationship with Mr Kerr who incessantly asked for the phone and she felt pressured. He had been in prison for five months up until that day and she thought it was also a way she could keep in contact."

The court heard that Salter, a Miss London finalist, was seen handing over the phone during a preliminary hearing.

Kerr, 20, who had been arrested on robbery and burglary charges, was later jailed for five years.

Salter, who has had small roles in film and television, was given a three-and-a-half month suspended jail term and community service.

Recorder Richard Bruce said he accepted she had been under "considerable pressure".

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