Mum took her three young children with her to sell a kilo of cocaine for drugs gang boss

A mother has been jailed after she took her three young children with her to sell a kilo of high-purity cocaine.

Rebecca Rowley and her friend Samantha Tait, became known to the North East Organised Crime Unit in February 2022 as part of Operation Springfield which targeted the distribution of cocaine and heroin led by Adam Oakley. Liam O'Brien, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court that the sheer scale of the distribution was "very significant indeed".

Rowley and Tait were "trusted couriers" for the "cross country distribution operation". On February 3, 2022, they went to Newcastle in a rented Fiat 500 to deliver drugs for Oakley to a man in Cumbria, collecting large amounts of cash as payment in the process, Chronicle Live reports.

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Mr O'Brien said: "A significantly aggravating factor in this case is the defendants took with them Miss Rowley's children that day - one can only infer to conceal the fact they were engaged in unlawful activity and less likely to attract suspicion."

In Ulverston, Cumbria, the pair handed over one kilo of 82 per cent pure cocaine to a man in return for tens of thousands of pounds. However, police were watching them and quickly swooped in for an arrest.

Mr O'Brien said: "In the vehicle occupied by Miss Tait, Miss Rowley and the children, the police found a plastic carrier bag in the front passenger footwell containing £31,770. A further £18,730 was found in a bag hidden in the spare wheel compartment of the vehicle's boot. It's not clear if that was from the same transaction or a different one."

Under police questioning, Rowley denied knowledge of any illegal activity and said she was asked