When a 13-year-old girl was detained in the arrivals hall at Manchester Airport in 2002 carrying heroin worth almost £1m, it was the pioneering criminal solicitor Mary Monson who was called in. Monson, who has died aged 74, was recognised as one of the north-west of England’s most experienced defence lawyers for juveniles.
The teenage drug mule, who appeared older than her years, had flown in from Islamabad in Pakistan. She was charged with importing 11kg of heroin but was too scared to talk. Monson cleared her diary for the case, and over the next three months visited the terrified child almost every day, gradually winning her trust.
