COLNE: Heroin dealer is jailed on her 29th birthday

Addict Melanie Woodall made cash from the venture and also got discounted drugs for herself. She was the link between her supplier and street dealers. She would receive 28 grams of the drug, which she would divide into four seven gram packages and pass them on to other dealers for them to supply on, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Woodall, then of Mason Street, had earlier admitted possessing heroin with intent to supply on October 13th, 2009 and was sent to prison for three and a half years.

She had pleaded guilty on the basis she had been put under pressure by her supplier to sell heroin. She claimed she had refused to sell, but had agreed to cut up drugs and return them to him. The defendant, who alleged she did not get any cash, accepted she had “laid-on” heroin to two close friends as they had done it for her in the past.

The prosecution had not accepted her claims, a trial over the facts had been held and a judge ruled she was a middle man and a “willing distributor.”

Sentencing her, Recorder Dennis Watson told her she had been “trading for profit”, it had gone on a long time and she was “one step above a street retailer.” He said he had taken into account the defendant’s troubled background, but continued: “You were a significant distributor to retailers for up to two years.”

The court had been told how police went to the defendant’s house. In her handbag, they found four large wraps of heroin, just short of one ounce, at a purity of 33 per cent. Also in her bag was £450 cash, in three separate places.

Officers discovered a further £62, a diary and a number of mobile phones which appeared to contain messages related to drug dealing.

Mr John Woodward, for Woodall, said she knew she was in a very precarious position. She knew what she had done was serious and the type of penalty she was facing.

She had not committed offences since. The defendant had never lost her liberty or been punished greatly before. Her life had moved on in a number of ways. She had a new partner, and they were living together. The barrister said the case was “exceptional” and urged the judge to draw back from immediate custody.