PRIVATE COLLEGE PERHAPS?

Published February 19, 2013 | By

Illegal immigrant mother-of-two jailed after dealing crack cocaine so she could send her children to private school in Jamaica
Sophia Bailey had turned to dealing to support her family in Jamaica
Bailey, who had absconded from the UKBA in 2008, jailed for 40 months
Police found heroin and crack cocaine, which were worth up to £8,000
By ANNA EDWARDS
PUBLISHED: 07:09 EST, 18 February 2013 | UPDATED: 09:33 EST, 18 February 2013
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Sophia Bailey was caught with drugs in her kitchen and has been jailed for 40 months
An illegal immigrant became a drug dealer to fund her children’s private education and send £23,000 back to her home country Jamaica, a court heard.
Sophia Bailey, 40, of Gloucester, should not even have been in the UK when she began dealing in crack cocaine and heroin.
When police raided her home they discovered 75 grams of crack cocaine, some of it hidden in a Cadbury’s hot chocolate tin in the kitchen, along with 38.6 grams of heroin.
At Gloucester Crown Court the mother of two pleaded guilty to possessing heroin with intent to supply in January. She also admitted possessing crack cocaine on the same date.
She further pleaded guilty to removing the proceeds of crime, £7,920, from the UK by transferring it to Jamaica between 1 January 2011 and January 10, 2013.
And she admitted possession of £1,500 which she knew represented the proceeds of crime.
On Friday Judge William Hart jailed her for 40 months and he said he ‘fondly hoped’ she would be deported on release.
‘You are a Jamaican national and of previous good character,’ said the judge, ‘Quite why you chose at the age of 38 and with no previous convictions to get involved in this only you can know.
‘I am quite satisfied you approached someone of similar national origin to yourself and you asked to go into business as a ‘sub dealer’ for him.

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‘You had in your possession a significant amount of drugs of high purity together with cutting agents.’
Prosecutor Lisa Hennessy said police raided Bailey’s home on January 10 and found the drugs, which had a purity rate of more than 70 per cent and were worth between £6,000 and £8,000.
Electronic scales, clingfilm and latex gloves were among the drug dealer’s equipment also found.

Gloucester Crown Court heard that the had absconded from UKBA control in 2008
Ms Hennessy said: ‘They also found a Jamaican national certificate of deposit and shares in the name of Sophia Bailey, her Jamaican passport and an envelope with “Sophia £1,650” written on it.
‘Over £1,500 in cash was in her handbag.
‘She told the police she had been dealing drugs for the previous two years, having lost her cash in hand job. She said she approached a Jamaican friend asking to deal drugs for him.
‘She said she’d sold the drugs to numerous people. It was clear she had managed to transfer £23,000 in cash to people in Jamaica during the previous 5-6 years.
‘She said she would get up to 3.5 ounces of crack and heroin delivered at a time and the more she sold the more she got paid.
‘It emerged she was an illegal immigrant who had absconded from UK Border Agency control in 2008.’
Judge Hart formally certified that Bailey had benefited by £14,310 from crime and had £1,650 available for confiscation.
Lloyd Jenkins, defending, said her life had ‘fallen into the doldrums’ when she lost her job in December 2010.
She had been in the UK since 2006 and was the carer for her elderly uncle, now 86, he said.
She had turned to drug dealing because she wanted to continue to support her uncle and also her parents, who are in poor health, said Mr Jenkins.
He added: ‘She also two children, now aged 18 and 20, who had very expensive school fees.’
Jailing her, Judge Hart said many people questioned why illegal immigrant offenders were not just immediately deported rather than put the UK to the cost of jailing them.
But he said there had to be prison terms or foreigners would come to the country just to commit crime in the knowledge that the worst that could happen to them would be to be sent home.

PRIVATE COLLEGE PERHAPS?

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