NEED TO KNOW
- Deborah Mason was sentenced to 20 years behind bars for her role in a criminal gang that supplied nearly a tonne (over 1,000 kg) of cocaine across the U.K.
- Six women and one man were also implicated in the crime
- Mason, 65, was known as “Queen Bee” and “gangster granny”
Deborah Mason, six women, and one man, all part of the same criminal gang, were sentenced to a combined 106 years and six months in prison on Friday, July 18, per U.K. police.
Mason, 65, also known as “Queen Bee” and “gangster Granny,” was sentenced in Woolwich Crown Court in London for her involvement in supplying nearly a tonne of cocaine (about 1,000 kg) over seven months across the U.K. The sizable quantity of drugs had an estimated wholesale value between £23 million to £35 million (about $31 million to $47 million) and a street value of £80 million (over $107 million), according to The Independent.
She was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at Woolwich Crown Court on April 28, and was sentenced at the same court to 20 years behind bars on July 18. She was in contact and sourcing the drugs from an upstream supplier named Bugsy, per The Guardian.
Metropolitan Detective Constable Jack Kraushaar, who led the investigation, said in a statement, “This was a sophisticated operation which was extremely profitable for those involved.”
Kraushaar continued, “Following months of work by the Met Police to relentlessly pursue these perpetrators, we were able to arrest and eventually convict them, preventing more drugs flooding streets across the UK which leads to violence, antisocial behaviour and misery for communities.”
Take PEOPLE with you! Subscribe to PEOPLE magazine to get the latest details on celebrity news, exclusive royal updates, how-it-happened true crime stories and more — right to your mailbox.
The seven other individuals implicated in the drug bust are Mason’s sister Tina Golding, and her children Demi Bright, Roseanne Mason, Lillie Bright, and Reggie Bright, as well as his partner, Demi Kendall. Lillie Bright’s partner, Chloe Hodgkin, and Demi Bright’s friend Anita Slaughter also held “significant” roles in the operation, The Times reported.
Roseanne, 29, of Canonbury, North London, and Demi, 30, of Ashford, Kent, were each sentenced to 11 years in prison. Lillie, 26, of Ashford, Kent, was sentenced to 13 years, and Kendall, 31, of Staplehurst, Kent, was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison.
Reggie, 24, of Staplehurst, Kent, was sentenced to 15 years, and Golding, 66, of Ashford, Kent, was sentenced to 10 years. Slaughter, 44, of Ashford, Kent, was sentenced to 13 years in prison, per The Guardian.
Hodgkin, who is currently pregnant, will be sentenced at a later date, per the outlet.
Robert Hutchinson, Specialist Prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said in a statement, “This was no ordinary family. Instead of nurturing and caring for her relatives, Deborah Mason recruited them to establish an extraordinarily profitable criminal enterprise that would ultimately put them all behind bars.”
Mason ran the operation from her home in Tufnell Park, north London, The Times reported. She allegedly often embarked on lavish vacations, purchased luxury high-end designer goods, and more. She was also looking to travel to Turkey for cosmetic surgery, and several members of the gang allegedly brought their children with them to pick up the drugs, according to The Guardian.
Read the full article here