Female drug dealer selling crack cocaine and heroin for London gangsters is jailed after ambush
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But Mary Upfold, 23, will not serve any additional time behind bars – with her latest sentence set to run alongside a previous three and a half year jail term for drug dealing she was handed down last June.
Upfold landed herself back in court after she was part of a gang of dealers who ruthlessly infiltrated a vulnerable person’s flat in Portsmouth before spreading misery to the community by dealing crack cocaine and heroin.
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Hide AdThe woman, who was caught with more than 600 Class A wraps of the drugs, was ousted for her part in the lucrative operation after an undercover sting by police tackling ‘county lines’ drug dealing, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.
The court heard police suspected suspicious activity was taking place on Montague Road in the city in November 2017 where Upfold was.
Prosecutor James Kellam said: ‘The defendant was at the sharp end of a county lines operation. Police patrolling the area went to the flat of a known drug user and listened at the door where they heard what very much sounded like a drug deal taking place.
‘Officers then saw users come out of the flat before making an exchange and then returning to the flat. Police searched the men and also found the defendant and the person who was the victim of cuckooing.
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Hide Ad‘The defendant did not have any drugs on her but after officers checked her bag they came across a safe. After opening it they found hundreds of wraps for crack cocaine and heroin. This was clearly street dealing. She was entrusted with a lot of money.’
Mr Kellam added: ‘After being arrested Ms Upfold offered no comment during her police interview. Maybe there was not a lot she could say – her DNA had been found on the wraps.’
Upfold pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.
The court was told that Upfold had been jailed for similar offences in June last year at Reading Crown Court where she was handed down a three and a half year jail term.
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Hide AdBut the woman, who previously had a London address but was now of no fixed abode, had shown improvements in her thinking after participating in restorative justice – where criminals come face to face with victims in an attempt to curb reoffending.
Defending, Christopher Sard QC, said: ‘Ms Upfold’s maturity, insight and remorse is good for someone of her age. Sadly it was lacking before where her thought process saw what she was doing as a business with no victims, whereas now she knows that is not the case.’
He added: ‘There is a sad and unfortunate background to this story after her daughter was taken into care in 2016. After that she became a drug user and was the victim of domestic violence.
‘She turned to drugs and became concerned with the wrong people where she was effectively an employee of the dealers.’
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Hide AdRecorder Alistair Malcolm QC told Upfold she was found with a ‘substantial amount of drugs’ on her. But he effectively decided not to extend the prison term she was serving after dishing out a two year jail term to run concurrently with the sentence she was already serving.