A woman who funded her luxury lifestyle of Louis Vuitton handbags and holidays by selling drugs has been jailed.
Danielle Stafford was able to buy a second home and lived without touching any of her salary thanks to the amount of money she was making by ill-gotten gains. The 29-year-old pretended she was a victim of a shadowy drug dealer from Liverpool, reports Hull Live.
However, Stafford could give no evidence of this mystery figure. Hull Crown Court heard the drug dealer was selling crack cocaine and cannabis and had recently started to dealing heroin.
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She also tried to kid the court saying that her most expensive items found by police were not designer but fake or had been given to her by family members from their foreign holidays, despite having a long-running "additional cash income stream".
Stafford was caught only by pure chance when police spotted her speeding. A phone constantly rang with 30 calls or pinged with up to 20 drug messages after she was arrested and police later found £26,917 cash stashed around her home and drugs with a street value of £33,600.
She had luxuries including nine watches and three expensive Louis Vuitton handbags. Stafford, 29, of Hallgate, Cottingham, admitted three offences of being concerned in supplying heroin, crack cocaine and cannabis and another of possessing cash as criminal property, on dates spanning October 2017 and May 2020.
She originally denied nine offences and a trial had started, with the prosecution opening its case, but she suddenly changed her pleas to guilty on four charges.
Judge Mark Bury told Stafford: "You are well educated. You are a promising engineer. Your life went out of control some time in 2017 when you started dealing cannabis."
Stafford claimed that she had no direct involvement in street dealing cocaine and heroin and that a "lad" from Liverpool was the prime mover. Jury Bury said: "I don't accept that."
The judge added there was plenty of evidence that she was a significant cannabis dealer for two-and-a-half years but progressed to dealing cocaine too.
He said: "You were a street dealer in cocaine. You had a significant amount of designer and expensive items and jewellery. I am not prepared to accept that it was fake. It shows that you were able to earn very good money from this operation."
Stafford had a good car and the judge said: "It wasn't exactly a banger that you were using. There was an expectation of significant financial reward, as demonstrated by the items at your home.
"You have some talent and it's a great shame that you didn't deploy that talent in a more law-abiding way because I am sure you have something to offer.
"You didn't plead guilty until the very last minute. The evidence was strong, if not overwhelming. The jury was sworn and only during the opening did you change your pleas.
"Drug dealing on this scale, with this degree of financial reward that you you have reaped, simply cannot be overlooked. You have got more to offer than this and you have got to show that, when you have served this sentence."
Stafford looked impassive as she was led out of the dock to be taken down to the cells but she mouthed a few words to three supporters in the public gallery on Monday.
Saleema Mahmood, mitigating, said that Stafford was street dealing cannabis and regularly and frequently took part in this. She claimed that her involvement in Class A dealing arose through a person from Liverpool.
She added evidence of any Class A dealing was extremely limited and came from two sets of messages and this came much later than the cannabis enterprise. Ms Mahmood said there was an element of naivety and exploitation in her involvement and she had little influence on those above her in the chain.
Stafford claimed that she had only the "odd piece" of designer item and that so-called expensive watches and other items bought were counterfeit or had been bought as presents for her by her family on holidays to places like Turkey and Spain.
She also claimed that the family was in the habit of keeping large amounts of cash at home, rather than in a bank, and that she was entrusted to look after them for family members because she was seen as being a "responsible" person who could be "trusted" with money.
There were references from previous employers and others. She had tried to get work and had done voluntary work. She had shown remorse for what she had done, said Ms Mahmood.
At an earlier hearing Stafford pleaded guilty to the following: being concerned with the supply Cannabis; being concerned with the supply Crack Cocaine; being concerned with the supply of Heroin and with the possession of criminal property.
She was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail for the four drugs related offences.
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