Doting grandmother, 49, who became a cocaine dealer to pay off her son’s drug debts while ‘threatening violence on client’ short of cash is spared jail
- Collette Price pumped the class A drug into, Leek in Staffordshire, court hears
- A police raid at her uncovered 20 wraps of cocaine hidden inside her vest
- The grandma-of-five said she dealt drugs to pay off her son’s drugs debts
- She was sentence to two years in prison, which was suspended for two years
Collette Price turned to dealing cocaine to pay off her son’s drug debts
A doting grandmother who became a cocaine dealer in order to pay off her son’s drug debts has avoided going to jail.
Collette Price, 49, pumped the class A drug into Leek in Staffordshire, the small market town where she lived – despite having family who have battled with drug addiction.
She was a very ‘important cog in the wheel of supplying cocaine’, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard.
The grandma-of-five was arrested after police raided her home in December last year and discovered more than 20 wraps of cocaine hidden inside her vest.
Price claimed she was dealing drugs in order to raise cash for her son and said ‘she was being threatened’ by those who he owed money to.
Despite Price admitting dealing the drug, a judge decided not to send her to jail after warning her how a mother’s love can be abused.
Sentencing Price to two years in prison, suspended for two years, Judge David Fletcher said: ‘There is nothing wrong with a mother loving a child and supporting her child.
‘But when it results in criminal activity at a very high level and that person being here today you have got to ask yourself what your son really thinks about you.
‘I think the answer is obvious and you to need to think very hard about that when you are going forward.’
She was sentence to two years in prison, which was suspended for two years
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A judge decided not to send Price, pictured outside Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court, to jail after warning her how a mother’s love can be abused
Officers found 17 wraps of cocaine inside her vest weighing 7.75 grams and six smaller packages weighing a total of 1.17 grams with a street value of around £800.
Her phone was seized and analysis revealed texts which linked her to the supply of drugs, including one menacing message to a debtor which said: ‘You’re lucky I didn’t hit you’.
Two sets of digital scales, a dealer’s tick list and £925 in cash were also recovered.
Prosecutor Peter McCartney said police executed a search warrant at Price’s house at about 4pm on December 8.
Mr McCartney said: ‘While they were there the defendant arrived in a car with her husband. She was detained outside in order for a drugs search to be conducted.
‘The defendant’s phone was seized. When analysed it was found there were various texts relating to the total supply of drugs by her. Some of the texts related to the collection, by the defendant, of drug debts.’
Price, also known as Collette Ferns, pleaded guilty to supplying a class A drug, possession of a class A drug with intent to supply and possession of criminal property.
Jason Holt, mitigating, said Price was being threatened as her son, Gareth Ferns, had racked up a drugs debt.
He said: ‘The threats she faced were real. Windows of vehicles on the drive were put through. She felt she had no way forward. Her husband’s benefits had been stopped.
‘She had no other means in which she could try and offer to discharge the debt.
‘She knows from her own family the problems that drugs bring to the door. But she was desperate.’
She was arrested after police raided her home and found cocaine and £925 in cash (pictured)
Mr Holt added that Price is the main carer for her husband and another of her sons.
As part of the suspended sentence Price must complete a rehabilitation activity requirement for 25 days.
As he passed sentence Judge David Fletcher said: ‘This is classic street-dealing. She was a very important cog in the wheel of supply, dealing misery to people daily.’
Addressing Price he added: ‘You above all can see what class-A substances do to people and communities and society at large.’
Speaking after the case, chief inspector Mark Thorley, of Staffordshire Moorlands Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: ‘We’re glad that Collette Price has now been sentenced. In the Staffordshire Moorlands we will not tolerate drug-dealing and the misery it brings to communities.
‘The message is clear: Whoever you are, if you deal drugs we will bring you before the courts.’
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