The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Why gran picked wrong time to be a drug dealer
MORAG Yorston picked the wrong time to deal drugs. In 2016, 62 people died due to drugs in Tayside – rising to 94 in 2017. Dundee became the drugs capital of Europe – a tagline that brought shame on the city, its police and health staff.
Detectives launched two initiatives to clamp down – Operation Fundamental and Operation Boost. As police operations ramped up, officers honed in on Yorston and her gang.
Police estimate Yorston brought heroin and cocaine to Tayside worth many millions of pounds.
DCI Scott Fotheringham said: “When we first started getting intelligence about Yorston, she was living in a local authority housing development in (the Stobswell area of ) Dundee. By the time we were concluding, she had moved into quite an exclusive area up the west end.”
Detective Sergeant Ewan Murray, the deputy senior investigation officer in the Yorston case, added: “Yorston had private registration plates and enjoyed foreign holidays, though there was nothing overly extravagant. I suppose the key to her success was she lived a relatively normal and below-the-radar life.”
Yorston’s downfall began in July 2018 when police pulled over her known associate Ronnie Wilson’s vehicle to search it.
DS Murray told us: “The police search recovered 70 grams of heroin and 30 grams of cocaine.” The heroin was worth £7,000.
A search of Wilson’s home on Tweed Crescent in Menzieshill followed. Police found 3.3kg of heroin and more than 300 grams of cocaine. The heroin was worth £200,000. Wilson, 56, was arrested. Police studied his phone, a treasure trove of evidence, with texts indicating he assisted with the storage of drugs for Yorston from 2017.
Police interviewed suspects to create a who’s who of Dundee drugs.
One person who spoke anonymously: “Someone close to me was a witness (against Yorston). It was really difficult for me and my family. We knew things about Yorston and weren’t involved high up with her. We thought she was just dealing small amounts to help friends – £10 deals, not £100,000 deals.
“When you’re told the scale of it, you want to help police knowing the damage she has done but there’s a fear someone she knows will hurt you or someone you love.”
Some of her footsoldiers who turned against her were offered housing, addiction support, benefit assistance and counselling – and police continued to study their mobile phones to get evidence that Yorston was at the top of the tree.
Everything pointed to Yorston, who went by the name of “Mo” or “Maggie” in text chats with her band of dealers, and customers.
With the aid of intelligence from earlier arrests, police were keeping a close eye on Yorston and her right-hand men.
On August 10, 2018, police learned that Liverpool drugs courier Mark Gardner, 59, had driven from Merseyside up to the M6 motorway and was headed for Dundee. Detectives had the property put under surveillance before the courier arrived. Gardner was intercepted and arrested at Lockerbie.
Police moved quickly, raiding the Balunie Drive address. They found £200,000 worth of heroin and evidence of her drug dealing and her position as head of the organisation.
Despite having appeared in court and being bailed, Yorston carried on texting her Liverpool associates, perhaps knowing they would still expect payment. Those back-and-forth discussions added to the pile of evidence against her.
Police raided more properties in 2018 and said the drugs linked to Yorston seized over four months were worth £340,000.
She was facing jail, her old allies turned on her but Yorston was unconcerned.
She was still in a relationship with Bulgarian Daniel Nenchev, 18 years her junior, who was arrested with her at the Balunie Drive address.
Nenchev was charged with a drugs offence but a not guilty plea was accepted in court. He has now told us he had no knowledge of the scale of her offending.
The couple holidayed in Italy and Bulgaria. They were seen in 2019 together with Champagne. They wed at Dundee Registrars Office on May 1, 2019 with Yorston describing her job on the marriage certificate as ‘parcels sales manager’.
They honeymooned in Bulgaria and checked into a five-star Sol Palace hotel, Nessebar, posing for pictures by a pool.
When Yorston returned home in 2019 she was given a harsh dose of reality.
The court discovered Yorston and others had been threatening witnesses so she was remanded in custody. Wilson, Gardner and another associate Grant McRitchie all admitted drug dealing. They were jailed for three years and nine months, 27 months and three years.
Yorston finally admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine between September 17, 2017 and August 10, 2018. On July 29, 2019, she was bailed and told to return for sentencing on September 5. Her day of reckoning was close – but she was to hatch a bold plan in a bid to escape.