Mum ran drug family trafficking ring from her home in one of UK’s richest villages
A mum-of-three living in one of Britain’s richest villages has been jailed for running a family drug trafficking racket.
Julie Finney, 48, and her two sons Marcus, 28, and Dylan, 19, were operating a cocaine and cannabis drug ring in Alderley Edge, Cheshire.
For 16 months, the trio handled their ‘well-run and busy’ trade from Finney’s three bedroom cul-de-sac home worth £500,000 – in the village where the most champagne per head is sold in the UK.
As part of the operation her sons would send out so called ‘flare’ texts to customers with their latest offers.
Chester Crown Court heard she brought up her two sons against a background of cocaine and cannabis abuse, with Finney having smoked weed since she was 15.
Finney wept as she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.
Marcus, who had been using drugs since the age of 13, was jailed for four years while Dylan was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders institution, suspended for 18 months.
Her other son Joel had given up his university course and was going to take a job and help keep the family home going.
Mr Sion ap Mihangle, prosecuting, said: ‘Julie and her sons operated a well-run and busy street dealing enterprise together.
‘Police seized 88g of cannabis valued at between £419 and £460 together with £1,182 in cash.’
They also found Marcus dealing cannabis and cocaine, and even found an image on his phone of him snorting cocaine captioned: ‘Nice guy who sells drugs.’
Marcus had 35 previous offences on his record including cannabis dealing in 2010, and being in possession of cannabis in 2012 and 2017.
His mother had four convictions for four offences, none of which were drug related.
Jane Dagnall, defending, said: ‘When she was 15 and started to take drugs Miss Finney probably never thought she would be standing here with two sons and a third in the back of the court watching the fate of the family.’
Peter Killen, defending for Marcus, said: ‘He lost contact with his daughter in 2018 which led to an increase in drug misuse.
‘Then he lost his job in the pandemic. He was idle in the daytime and with the loss of money it led to greater problems with drug use and a downward spiral which led him to offend.’
For Dylan, Gareth Roberts said: ‘He has had an ongoing problem since the age of 13 had been using cannabis. His involvement with cannabis has come about through hanging out with older people and through his family sadly he had been immersed into a world of drugs.
‘By the time he was 16 he was smoking cannabis daily and mixing with people far more sophisticated criminally.’
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