A middle-class couple who sold cocaine to their friends have been jailed after a judge told them having good jobs did not make them 'special'.
Jordan Heeley, 31, and Alexandra Ditcham, 28, ran their drugs operation from an apartment in a Grade II listed building in Macclesfield, a court heard. They sold cocaine to their friends at social gatherings and made £13,000 profit in just ten weeks.
The couple were on course to make an extra £60,000 a year on top of their salaries before they were busted by police. Law firm worker Heeley and trainee social worker Ditcham were jailed by a judge at Chester Crown Court who said they could not be treated any differently because of their intelligence and 'fantastic references'.
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The court heard how police raided Heeley's property, in Brunswick Court, in April 2021 after being tipped off about 'drug activity' at the apartment. A Suzuki Alto car registered to the address was also suspected of being used in cocaine deals.
Peter Hussey, prosecuting, said: "Ditcham opened the door and screamed on seeing police entering and raised her hands in the air. Heeley was inside the flat by a kitchen worktop with empty snap bags and a digital scale.
"Police then recovered Heeley’s Samsung Galaxy mobile phone, Ditcham's iPhone 8, unused snap bags, scales, and a small quantity of cannabis in two containers under a TV unit which were pointed out by Mr Heeley.
"Both gave police the access PIN codes to their phones and it was found they had been used for dealing in cocaine, with drugs able to be delivered, dropped off, to customers, and occasionally drugs supplied on tick. There were also references to MDMA and cannabis usage but they were more in keeping with the defendants using the drugs rather than supplying them."
Mr Hussey added: "Both used their phones to supply and arrange to supply cocaine commercially, for profit, to a number of persons, mainly in £20 deals or multiples thereof. Phone content showed arrangements of deals were able to be matched to dates and times of bank transfers of sums in payment for drugs - and transfers of sums between the defendants.
"Evidently Mr Heeley’s flat was used to weigh out and bag up the drugs deals. The sequence of events identified the persons with whom the defendants were operating, evidently a known circle of contacts unlike the common graft phone scenario normally encountered by street level dealers.
"Bank information detailing the declared income and the tax returns for both defendants over the relevant period, shows that Mr Heeley was earning something in the order of £2,100 per month, or £5,250 over the relevant two and a half months. His Monzo bank account for that period had £17,200 deposited.
"Miss Ditcham had a legitimate income of £1,200 but deposits into her Monzo bank account were almost double that, at £2,350. The defendants have acquired something in the order of £13,000 which appears to be drugs related profit."
In mitigation for Heeley, defence counsel Richard Orme said: "This is an absolutely tragic case and he accepts he is the author of his own misfortune. He says the use of cocaine is rife in his area and that possibly somehow made it seem all right.
"He himself was a user of cocaine. He has his job in conveyancing and was in a situation where everything in his life is stable.
"I am not suggesting that he is some kind of Robin Hood, but he was funding Miss Ditcham as she was attending university at the time. He is remorseful and is now totally drug free.
"He hardly even drinks. He is now leading a totally law-abiding existence."
For Ditcham, Mark Connor said character references described her as 'considerate and protective' and caring for adults with learning disabilities. "All witness her regret and genuine remorse", Mr Connor said.
"She is described as hard working, polite and generous. Her stepfather said this was an error of judgement, a lapse in her common sense combined with her immaturity.
"It is a somewhat different case from what we see a lot of in court. It's quite clear that the seriousness of this case and why she is here only struck her when she was arrested.
"Taking class A drugs as they were, in some ways they are victims themselves. They have not made the right choices in life.
"This was not a massive operation. This was a small scale, supplying friends and acquaintances, people they knew. They have not thought through the consequences."
Mr Connor added: "She has learnt her lesson, that’s clear. She has revoked what was going to be a good career as a social worker.
"There is no doubt she would have been a good social worker on the evidence of references. She has paid an extremely high price."
Heeley, of Chapel Street, Macclesfield, and Ditcham, of Hurdsfield Road, Macclesfield, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and money laundering between January 27, 2021 and April 17, 2021. Their defence barristers, who produced 23 testimonials for the couple, urged the judge to impose suspended sentences.
However, Judge Steven Everett locked them up for 28 months each. He told them: "For some young people in some areas, there has become a sort of 'devil-may-care' approach to this drug. They might say: 'it’s just drugs, lots of us do it, therefore it’s not that serious' but in actual fact it is just the reverse.
"You were selling a dangerous drug and I see the effects if it - day in and day out. I see people who take cocaine, steal, rob and burgle just to fund their addiction for this terrible drug.
"I have seen people with holes in their noses through sniffing too much of that drug. Goodness knows what it does to their insides.
"It is one of the main drugs perhaps along with heroin causing a huge problem in our society. Both of you know that.
"Perhaps the people who wrote those letters do not understand the seriousness of what you did, the effect on society of what you did. But I take a serious view of this.
"It was not to fund an addiction or pay off debts, you wanted more money. You are not special people. You are two people who made the decision to sell this evil drug."
He added: "You have fantastic references from supportive family and friends, many professionals, many who are utterly dismayed you are in this position, that you are good people. But despite all of that, you made a financial decision that you were going to make some money selling cocaine.
"It does not matter if it is friends or acquaintances, you are selling to other people, cocaine users for profit and a pretty significant profit. In my judgement I do not think it was low level, this was a significant profit, making around £5,000 per month, effectively tax free.
"You would have made £60,000 a year on top of your salaries. It just shows that the profits that can be made even if you are selling to a relatively small circle of friends and acquaintances. I have taken into account your naivety, your stupidity but you are no different from many that appear before me and you have to be treated the same way.
"Whatever your background, whoever you are, if you sell this evil drug you can expect to go to prison and that is where you are going. It gives me no pleasure to see people so intelligent and who can make something with their lives and send them to prison but you have to be treated like anybody else."
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