Tele reveals truth behind crime ring

THE story of a Dundee grandmother and her Breaking Bad-style rise to power as a Tayside heroin dealer will be explored in a special new investigation starting in the Tele tomorrow.

Gangster Granny tells the incredible tale of Morag Yorston, who was jailed for five years and 11 months in September 2020 for her involvement in an organised crime ring selling drugs across the region.

She had fled to Bulgaria with her Bulgarian husband before sentencing and had to be extradited back to Scotland on a European Arrest Warrant.

Dale Haslam, a reporter for DC Thomson’s Impact investigations team, spent months finding out how a hard-up 50-something grandmother went from selling small quantities of cannabis and cocaine to friends to establishing a sophisticated county lines operation which flooded Tayside with millions of pounds worth of heroin.

“As a member of the Impact investigations team, I was eager to find out more about the rise and fall of Dundee’s most unlikely drugs baron,” Dale said.

“Who was this Jekyll and Hyde character? How did she make the transition into a gang boss, heaping misery on drug addicts across Tayside in her pursuit of ill-gotten gains?

“I started by speaking with the two detectives whose team brought down Yorston and her gang.

“They told me the dramatic story of how they arrested the Gangster Granny – and how she then managed to flee while on bail.

“We were given a unique insight into Tayside’s heroin network, including textmessage exchanges between Yorston and her gang members and customers.

“I interviewed two Crown Office investigators, who painted a picture of how Yorston came within days of evading Scottish justice and how Covid-19 threw a huge spanner in the works.

“I also spoke with people close to Yorston, who rebelled against her as the tide turned, while fearing her henchmen would turn violent.

“I managed to track down her toyboy husband to a small tourist town in his native Bulgaria and he was keen to give an interview concerning what little he knew about his wife’s criminal dark side.

“His story is enthralling – particularly given that, despite everything he has witnessed, he plans to stand by his woman, who is 18 years his senior.”

Dale continued: “In all of this, it’s important to remember Dundee has some of the worst drug-death statistics in Europe and behind every statistic is a victim.

“I spent time with members of a drug rehabilitation group in Dundee and spoke with members of Dundee Drugs Commission, who did some excellent work getting to the root of the problem.

“However, due to coronavirus and other issues, the commission leaders have not yet been fully able to check if their efforts have made a difference.

“Our series asks why that is, and explores our campaign to force public bodies to publish data that can better measure the problem.”