6kg of cocaine and £40k in cash found in towed hire car
‘Foolish’ gangster’s girlfriend rented VW Golf but it was left obstructing a driveway... and police discovered stash hidden inside
A YOUNG woman has been spared jail after she hired a car for her gangster boyfriend found with drugs and cash totalling £220,000 on board.
The car had been ‘foolishly’ parked across a driveway and when it was towed away the cocaine and money were found.
Verity Holt, 41, hired the VW Golf for a criminal gang including her boyfriend Craig Steenson and another man Jordan Udale, a court heard.
But a PCSO saw the Golf causing an obstruction as it was spotted parked across a driveway on Gorton Lane in Gorton on February 15.
The car was towed away to a garage and on board was found six onekilo blocks of cocaine with a wholesale value of around £180,000 plus £40,000 in cash.
Prosecutor Henry Blackshaw said parking the vehicle across someone’s driveway was ‘a foolish thing to have done given the vehicle’s cargo’.
The Golf was removed to a garage on Birch Lane where, the court heard, a female who was probably the defendant called to enquire about the vehicle.
Fingerprints belonging to Steenson and Udale were found on the cash and two days later police arrested them when they turned up to retrieve the car from the garage.
The subsequent investigation found Holt had hired the Golf for the gang. When detectives searched the house Holt shared with Steenson, officers found a number of expensive designer goods and an invoice for the £26,000 purchase of an Audi S3.
The court heard Holt had a previous conviction for perverting the course of justice and had also been cautioned for harbouring an escaped prisoner. The judge, The Recorder of Manchester Judge Dean QC, told Holt: “You have pleaded guilty to what as you know is a really serious offence. It’s serious because it goes, in a sense, beyond assisting an offender. It’s assisting an offender who’s involved in organised crime and very serious organised crime.” He added: “Unfortunately women, and it nearly always is women who are the partners of people like Mr Steenson, find themselves in a very difficult position when asked to do things when they know they will assist them for whatever criminal activities.
“You were drawn into this offending by Mr Steenson. You could and should have said no. Having said that, I recognise how difficult it would be to do that.”
He said she deserved a prison sentence but went on that he could suspend the sentence.
Holt, of Holdness Road in Gorton, was handed a 15-month prison sentence suspended for two years after she pleaded guilty to charge of participating in the activities of an organised crime group between June 1 last year February 17 this year. She was also ordered to carry out 35 days of rehabilitation activity.
Steenson and Udale are to be sentenced at a later date.
You have pleaded guilty to what as you know is a really serious offence
The Recorder of Manchester Judge Dean QC