'Gangster granny' who sold drugs to pay off her debts is spared prison

Traffic warden ‘gangster granny’, 61, who stored cocaine on a BAKING tray in her kitchen and sold drugs to addicts to pay off her debts is spared going to prison ‘by the skin of her teeth’

• Maureen Thompson, 61, left her traffic warden job after suffering a serious injury
• She ‘spiralled out of control’ from using pain relief and started taking cocaine
• But when she got into debt to a drug dealer she agreed to start selling to addicts
• A police drugs bust on her Wigan home found 47 wraps of the Class A drug
• She admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply at Bolton Crown Court
• But judge said she would avoid two-year jail term ‘by the skin of your teeth’

A retired traffic warden who dubbed herself ‘gangster granny’ after she started dealing drugs to pay her off her debts has escaped a jail term ‘by the skin of her teeth’.

Maureen Thompson, 61, stored a stash of drugs on a baking tray and in Tupperware in her kitchen and kept a debtors list on her phone to manage a drug dealing hotline.

A court heard the mother-of-one began a secret double life selling cocaine for a dealer after becoming addicted to the Class A drug herself.

She had been forced to quit her day job of 28 years after suffering a serious injury, and her life soon started to ‘spiral out of control’ and she found herself working for the dealer to pay for her own habit.

In a drugs bust on her apartment in Scholes, near Wigan, Greater Manchester, police found 47 wraps of cocaine, some hidden in a sock and others stuck to the underside of a drawer – as well as a white binbag full of cutting agents used to bulk up the drugs.

Maureen Thompson, 61, has escaped a prison term ‘by the skin of her teeth’ after admitting to selling cocaine for a dealer to pay off her own debts from a drug habit. Pictured: Thompson outside Bolton Crown Court

The mother-of-one began a secret double life selling cocaine for a dealer after becoming addicted to the Class A drug herself. She also dubbed herself ‘gangster granny’ in a post on Facebook

A Warren James gift bag was seized with number of plastic wraps of white powder inside and a piece of folded silver plastic of white powder was found stuck with blu tack and magnets to the underside of a kitchen drawer.

Thompson’s mobile was also examined and found to contain messages relating to drug sales. The debtors ‘tick list’ was found in a notebook and she was also put in charge of manning a drug deal hotline. Experts valued the haul at up to £1,335.

A Facebook message on her account shows her jokingly referring to herself as ‘gangster granny’. 

Thompson initially denied being a drug dealer and claimed not to have known where the drugs came from. But in the police station she was found to be wearing a sock which was a match to the other which contained drugs.

In a subsequent statement she confessed: ‘I was in substantial debt to a drug dealer and I could not pay those debts so I agreed to let the dealer use my account to deposit and withdraw drugs money.

In a drugs bust on her apartment in Scholes, near Wigan, Greater Manchester, police found 47 wraps of cocaine, some hidden in a sock and others stuck to the underside of a drawer – as well as a white binbag full of cutting agents used to bulk up the drugs

‘My debt continued to incur interest and I agreed to store drugs and operate a drugs phone for him. I was a traffic enforcement officer for 28 years in Bolton and I had a serious accident which forced me into retirement.

‘The medication pain relief I was taking made me spiral out of control and I started using Class A drugs.’

At Bolton Crown Court, Thompson admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and acquiring criminal property and was sentenced to two years jail suspended for two years.

She was also ordered to complete a 12 month drug rehabilitation programme, 30 rehabilitation days and was ordered to wear an electronic tag for four months as part of a 7pm and 7am curfew.

In mitigation defence counsel Joshua Bowker said: ‘Background reports on Miss Thompson paint a very different picture of her.

‘This was offending committed after a protracted period of misfortune and misery resulting in control of her own life spiralling away from her.

‘Throughout her entire life there has been a significant amount of trauma with multiple incidents of significant events happening in her life which had have a great effect on her.

At Bolton Crown Court, Thompson admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and acquiring criminal property and was sentenced to two years jail suspended for two years

‘There was a campaign of domestic violence she was subjected to for many years by more than one partner. She is now living with her son and that face is a more stabilising influence on her.

‘She held her employment until through no fault of her own for health reasons it came to an end in the mid 2010s.

‘Although there was frequent alcohol abuse connected to the domestic violence, the loss of her employment, the stability and pride that it gave, led to increasing amounts of alcohol being consumed and prolific use of cocaine.

‘It led to debt and this offending occurring. This is offending out of character for her. Her use of cocaine is now on a much smaller scale but it is still happening as she’s an addict.

Thompson will face a Proceeds of Crime hearing later. She will have to undergo a review in two months where the judge will check on her progress

‘Her intention will be to completely wean herself off that drug use. She poses a low risk of reoffending.’

Sentencing Thompson Judge Martin Walsh told her: ‘This court frequently has people appearing in front of it whose lives have been utterly devastated and destroyed by their addictions to drugs.

‘Communities are blighted by the activity of those who resort to crime in order to feed their habits and those who profit out of the creation of such misery for personal financial gain can expect to receive significant prison sentences.

‘But I have regard to your basis of plea and reports about you. I am just about persuaded about your circumstances to pass a suspended sentence. But I want to make it absolutely crystal clear – you have escaped going to prison by the skin of your teeth.’

Thompson will face a Proceeds of Crime hearing later. She will have to undergo a review in two months where the judge will check on her progress.

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