A drug dealing gran was killed as she tried to recover a £120 debt after being stabbed by a homeowner trying to defend himself.
Matriarch Debbie Twist - the head of a family drugs ring - lost her life after she stormed the property with her son and another man.
The Manchester Evening News reports that the 47-year-old and the woman's son Jordan Winstanley decided to collect a drug debt from the father of a customer. They carried out the raid with Robbie Arnold, who also worked for them.
The trio smashed through the back window and burst inside wearing masks as they entered the house in Leigh, Wigan, wielding a hammer and machete on March 17, 2019.
The victim, whose pregnant partner was also at home at the time, was threatened with a "firearm", GMP said.
Bolton Crown Court heard he picked up a knife and slashed in the direction of the intruders to fend off their blows when he stabbed Debbie Twist in the left side of her chest. She was taken to hospital but later died from her wounds, prosecutor John Richards told the court.
Mr Richards said the homeowner, who also received numerous injuries to his nose and hands during the attack, has been left traumatised by the incident and still has flashbacks more than three years on. A man was arrested for murder but GMP later decided no further action needed to be taken following CPS advice and authority of the Chief Crown Prosecutor due to ‘householder defence.’
Following a trial, Winstanley was found guilty of aggravated burglary and jailed for over six years. Robbie Arnold, 23, was cleared of aggravated burglary by a jury but was found guilty of possessing an imitation firearm on the evening of March 17, 2019.
Winstanley, now 28, and his mum ran the small drugs ring with her daughter, Bethany Twist, 22, Adam Guy, 26, and Arnold, 23, Mr Richards told the court.
Bethany Twist and Guy, a couple, did not have any part in the aggravated burglary but were part of the same criminal operation, Mr Richards explained. He went on to say that they had been dealing cannabis in the area to whom the defence claims were friends of theirs, rather than strangers.
“Between March 3 and 18 [Bethany] Guy and Twist were involved in the supply of cannabis,” the court was told. “They admitted calling in a drug debt of the victim, who had no idea his son had accrued a debt.”
The court heard that the son of the homeowner had run up a debt of £170 for cannabis, supplied to him by the Twist family. He himself had been attacked by Debbie Twist two days earlier, when she demanded repayment of the drugs debt but he agreed to pay back the money he owed on Monday, March 18.
But on Sunday March 17, Debbie Twist, her son, daughter, Guy and Arnold, all met at a local pub for drinks. It was on their walk back home that Debbie Twist pointed out the victim’s address and identified him as the father of the man who owed her money. At this point, the debt had been reduced by £50, so stood at £120, GMP said.
She asked her son and Robbie to knock on the door and ask for the return of the money. At 6pm that evening, the group returned and when they received no response from knocking, they all made their way to the back of the property and burst in.
Following the attack, police searching the Manchester Road address recovered a plastic bag containing a claw hammer and a machete, which was on a neighbour’s roof.
The court heard that according to the statement of one witness who was asked to drive for them, Arnold, holding a paintball gun, and another male wearing a balaclava ordered him to drive to Manchester Road in Leigh. A search of Arnold’s address recovered a paintball gun, which had also been used in the attack.
The Twist family's drug ring had been rumbled by police a month before the attack, when officers raided Arnold’s address a month prior to this incident on February 8, 2019 and found a number of drugs and items associated with the production of Class A drugs and the sale of Class B drugs, the court heard.
“In total, what was found was £4,360 worth of cocaine, £250 of skunk cannabis, and £30 of cannabis resin,” Mr Richards said. “Over 200 messages were found on the phones relating to the sale of drugs, one saying ‘need flake, bare power’.”
Mitigating on behalf of Arnold, Ian Metcalfe told the court that his client had only got into his role of producing and selling drugs after getting into “eye-watering” debts himself. He added that at the time he had no previous convictions and was a man of good character.
“He was living in the shadow of Debbie Twist,” Mr Metcalfe said. “She was a lady he had known for many years of his life and knew her as ‘aunt’.
“The defendant has taken active steps to move away from criminality.”
Defending Winstanley, Alistair Reid said his client had already suffered punishment from this crime in losing his mother. He told the court that her troubles with drug addiction meant he had a "traumatic childhood" for which he has received little to no support in dealing with.
“It was his 25th birthday on the night of this incident,” Mr Reid stated. “He is no longer using drugs or alcohol to the same extent he was at that time.
“He has stepped away from that following the tragic loss of his mother. This goes some way to his better character that he has not resorted to this behaviour having lost his mother in these circumstances.”
Mr Reid added that after the conviction following the trial, Winstanley's father was taken to hospital and also died shortly after.
Craig McGregor, mitigating for Bethany Twist, said that like her brother, she had also lost a mother during the raid, and that she had recently become a mother to her and Guy’s second baby.
“She is a lady of previous good character and a young mother. Immediate custody would have harmful effects on others," he told the court.
Representing Guy, Eleanor Gleeson explained that he is also a man of previous good character and a father of two. “He understands the severity of his actions,” Ms Gleeson said.
“There is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation here. He had a son and needed to get cash and get cash quickly. He regrets the actions he made at the time of this. He wants to continue to be in a position to provide for his young family.”
His Honour Judge Tom Gilbart regarded this as “a very sad case” during his summary, given the death of two of the defendants’ mother. He sentenced Winstanley, of Butler Street, Wigan, to six years and six months in prison and Arnold, of Suffolk Grove, Wigan, who also pleaded guilty to the production of cocaine, the supply of cocaine and the supply of cannabis, to a total of five years in jail.
Before they were sent down, Twist wept and hugged her brother.
Bethany Twist, of Devon Street in Leigh, and Adam Guy, of Turner Street in Leigh, both pleaded guilty to the supply of Class B drug cannabis. Guy was given a six month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and must undertake 15 rehabilitation requirement activity days, a six month drug rehabilitation course and carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
Twist was given a six month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and must undertake 20 rehabilitation requirement activity days and 70 hours of unpaid work.
Following the court case, Detective Chief Inspector Wes Knights of the Major Incident Team said: “We are extremely pleased with today’s results, which reflect the severity of this attack.
“This has been a very lengthy and complex investigation owing to the circumstances, whereby, unusually someone has tragically lost their life during the commission of a crime which cannot be forgotten. We are grateful to the victim and his family for all the support they have given us during our investigation, in what can only be described as an extremely distressing time for them.
“I would also like to thank the Crown Prosecution Service for their assistance in this case which has presented many challenges – at the forefront, has been an ethical and transparent investigation interrogating all facets of this tragedy.
“The overriding message from these unfolding events being that any form of violent offending will always be pursued relentlessly by the Greater Manchester Police to prevent any further offending and protect the public. The evidence against these four individuals was overwhelming and I would like to thank my Major Incident Team for all of their hard work in securing these convictions.”
Following the death of the 47-year-old, the family released a statement through Greater Manchester Police, it said: "Debbie wasn’t just a mum. She was our best friend and a friend to many.
"She was the best nanna to Elise, Myla and Maisie and mother-in-law to Adam. She was the much-loved sister of Brian, Anne-Marie, Kelly and Sean.
"She was taken from us too soon and under tragic circumstances. She will be missed by everyone. We would like to thank everyone for their kind words, cards, condolences and flowers."
