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Mother and daughter jailed for drugs offences (11 May 2015)

Date: 11/05/2015
Duncan Lewis, Crime Solicitors, Mother and daughter jailed for drugs offences

A mother and daughter from Cumbria have been jailed after conspiring with the boss of a drug gang to flood the streets with cannabis and amphetamines.

Manchester Evening News reports that Ashleigh and Angela Parkinson conspired with Paul Doyle and sold drugs to local suppliers, after obtaining them from Doyle.

The court heard that Doyle lived in an £800,000 house in Altrincham in Cheshire – and supplied the drugs in bulk quantities to Ashleigh Parkinson in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria when she was just 19. She then sold them on to local suppliers.

Parkinson often failed to answer her phone when Doyle and his gang were trying to get hold of her, the court was told, so her mother, Angela Parkinson, collected the drugs for her daughter – and took orders for drugs using the codenames “green dresses” or “white”.

Angela Parkinson, 48, had previous convictions for drug dealing – and used to keep the drugs alongside the family’s food in the fridge.

The court heard that mother and daughter spent money “quicker than it came in” – and ended up £8,000 in debt to Doyle by the time the gang’s drug dealing network was smashed by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit last year.

The defence lawyer for Ashleigh Parkinson, who is now 20, told the court that she had “no worldly goods” to show for her crimes – and had worked at the “behest” of other conspirators.

“This woman, I’m afraid, has been dragged up,” the court was told. “It’s no coincidence that she’s in the dock with her own mother.

“In the months before the trial, she sought to move away from the family home and managed to obtain employment as a carer – it shows she recognises that where she comes from is pretty unattractive.”

However, a jury at Manchester Crown Court found Ashleigh Parkinson and her mother Angela Parkinson – from Walney in Barrow-in-Furness – guilty of conspiracy to supply amphetamines and cannabis in 2013 and 2014.

Ashleigh Parkinson was jailed for three years and her mother Angela Parkinson was given a 20-month jail term, after having already served ten months in prison for a linked offence.

The pair were sentenced alongside Michael Manning, 52, of Langsett Avenue in Salford, Greater Manchester, who had provided a safe house for the drugs until Doyle was ready to deliver them or show a sample to a buyer.

The court heard that Manning kept heroin in his Hoover and also buried the Class A drug in his garden.

Manning had also previously counselled young people to stay away from drugs, after beating his own addiction. The court was told he had been clean and “out of trouble” for ten years after his last conviction for dealing.

However, Judge Richard Mansell QC said that Manning’s apparently “settled” and “law-abiding” lifestyle provided the “perfect cover” for Doyle – and he sentenced Manning to nine years in jail after he was convicted of conspiring to supply heroin and amphetamines.

In April, the court jailed the gang’s boss, Paul Doyle, for 16 years.

Duncan Lewis Criminal Lawyers

Duncan Lewis criminal lawyers are available 24/7, 365 days at year to advise at any stage of a charge relating to drugs offences, including conspiracy to supply, supply, possession and manufacture of drugs.

There are Duncan Lewis offices nationwide – and a criminal defence lawyer can usually reach a client within an hour to advise on drugs offences at a police station or court.

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For expert legal advice on all criminal charges, call Duncan Lewis criminal lawyers on 020 7923 4020.

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