Luxury-loving engineer, 31, who ran drug empire to fund lavish holidays & buy second home ordered to pay back just £96k
A LUXURY-loving woman ran a cannabis and cocaine empire to fund a lavish lifestyle of foreign holidays and expensive treats – before being rumbled after a costly mistake.
But Danielle Stafford has now been ordered to pay more than £96,000 back as the proceeds of crime, and she’s got just 12 weeks to stump up the cash.
The 31-year-old made so much money by selling drugs that she bought a second house and lived without touching any of her job salary.
She pretended that most of the expensive items that were found were not designer goods but were fake or had merely been given to her by family members from their foreign holidays.
She was caught when police spotted her speeding.
A phone constantly rang with 30 calls or pinged with up to 20 drug messages after she was arrested and police later found £26,917 cash stashed around her home and drugs with a street value of £33,600.
She had luxuries including nine watches and three expensive Louis Vuitton handbags, Hull Crown Court heard.
Engineer and University of Hull graduate Stafford, 31, formerly of Hallgate, Cottingham, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in April 2023 after she admitted three offences of being concerned in supplying heroin, crack cocaine and cannabis and another of possessing cash as criminal property, on dates spanning October 2017 and May 2020.
But the case resurfaced and was mentioned again so that the court could make a final decision on how much money Stafford was said to have made from her criminal activities.
Nadim Bashir, prosecuting, said that the criminal benefit figure had been agreed at £96,263.
She was ordered to pay it within three months – or face a default prison sentence of one year, to be served consecutively.
Stafford attended the hearing via a video link from prison.
The matter had originally been scheduled to be a contested full hearing but agreement was reached between the sides.
During the original court hearing in 2023, Mr Bashir said that police spotted a silver Audi heading along Priory Road towards Hull city centre at 7.30pm on May 12, 2020.
It was speeding and hastily turned onto Hotham Road South, cutting the corner and cutting up a vehicle heading in the opposite direction.
“It was then driven at speed along Hotham Road South,” said Mr Bashir.
The car was followed and it was stopped in The Odd Bottle car park on Wold Road.
Police could smell cannabis coming from the inside of the car and this aroused their suspicions.
She “immediately lied” and told police: “I’ll be honest, I’ve got this” and handed police a small silver wrap containing two buds of cannabis skunk.
Police found further bags of cannabis on her, including a food bag containing cannabis skunk and, from a pocket, another food bag containing cannabis skunk.
The car was searched and a carrier bag of cannabis skunk was found behind the driver’s seat.
An empty tub containing drug residue was found. The total value of the cannabis was £1,308.
An iPhone was found, with drug messages on it.
“From the moment of seizure of the drugs to the arrival in the police station custody suite, the mobile iPhone was constantly ringing and receiving messages from different people,” said Mr Bashir.
“Some 30 phone calls were received and 10 to 20 text messages.”
On the way to the police station, Stafford was seen “fidgeting” with her jogging bottoms and she was asked if she had any more drugs hidden.
She said: “Yes, but it’s not mine and I don’t know what it is. I shoved it down my joggers when you pulled me.”
Stafford pulled out a bag containing a large amount of small bags of cocaine.
There were 56 wraps of crack cocaine, valued at £2,800.
Her three-bedroom home in Cottingham was searched after police forced entry.
A glass jar with plastic bags inside was found hidden behind a bag of coal bricks in a coal bunker in the rear garden.
From the moment of seizure of the drugs to the arrival in the police station custody suite, the mobile iPhone was constantly ringing and receiving messages from different people
Nadim Bashir
There were 270 wraps of crack cocaine, valued at £13,500, and 205 wraps of heroin, valued at £4,100, in the jar.
Stafford denied knowledge of them.
In the living room, herbal cannabis, valued at £2,500, was found in an open, empty banana box on a table.
She denied that it belonged to her.
Two glass jars contained cannabis valued at £370. Police also found weighing scales, a large amount of cash and more food bags. She admitted that this belonged to her.
In Stafford’s bedroom, £430 cash and £25.36 in coins were found.
Herbal cannabis and Ecstasy tablets were found. Bank notes totalling £670 were found as well as £2,350 and £1,480 cash.
More cash, totalling £7,580, was found in a safe but she denied that it was hers.
Three Louis Vuitton handbags and nine watches were found. She admitted that these were hers.
In an upstairs box room, cash bundles of £9,100, £1,668, £550, £700, £1,110, £165, £190 and £91 were found.
Examination of Stafford’s bank accounts revealed that “she clearly had an additional stream of cash income” apart from her monthly wages from working for Swift Group.
Holidays had been taken but there was no trace from her bank account of her buying foreign currency or making purchases overseas.
“Again, evidence of an additional cash stream income,” said Mr Bashir.
Stafford had bought her Cottingham home in March 2016 for £124,999 in her sole name with a mortgage and a property in Hotham Road South in July 2018 without a mortgage for £68,500 in equal shares with her aunt.
Stafford paid the “lion’s share” of £64,927 from cashing in premium bonds and she told police that she bought it to rent out.
“Even with rental or lodgings allowances, neither property was able to provide any significant source of income to justify the cash found in the house,” said Mr Bashir.
During police interview, Stafford claimed that a Liverpool lad had been staying with her on and off and that he had telephoned her to say that he had left something at her home.
She had somehow managed to avoid her drug dealing activities coming to the attention of the police for a substantial period of time.
Nadim Bashir
When she got home, there was a large amount of cannabis and, when he asked her to take it to him, she said that she did not feel comfortable doing so.
She claimed that he asked her just to bring a bag which was there and, in a panic, she grabbed a bag and was driving to meet him.
Stafford denied that she or the lad were dealing drugs but later admitted that she would drive to Liverpool and bring him back to Hull.
She denied knowledge of any of the large amounts of cash found around her home, claiming that she looked after it for the lad, including keeping it for him in her own bedroom, apart from £2,350 which belonged to her.
“She said that the money in the safe had nothing to do with her and all the other cash belonged to the lad,” said Mr Bashir.
He told the court that Stafford was an “enthusiastic” cannabis dealer and progressed to becoming a Class A cocaine dealer.
“She had somehow managed to avoid her drug dealing activities coming to the attention of the police for a substantial period of time,” said Mr Bashir.
“The natural result of this was that she was able to accumulate a substantial amount of wealth, including purchasing an investment property, a house to rent.
“Cash found in her home address amounted to £26,917.
“The contents of her home address in Hallgate, Cottingham, is strong evidence of the nature of her drugs business.
“The amount, type and value of drugs found at her home were substantial. The drugs alone were street valued at £33,600. This is sustained drug dealing.”
During the 2023 hearing, Saleema Mahmood, mitigating, said that Stafford was street dealing cannabis and regularly and frequently took part in this.
She claimed that her involvement in Class A dealing arose through a person from Liverpool.
Evidence of any Class A dealing was extremely limited and came from two sets of messages.
This came much later than the cannabis enterprise.
There was an element of naivety and exploitation in her involvement and she had little influence on those above her in the chain.
Stafford claimed that she had only the “odd piece” of designer item and that so-called expensive watches and other items bought were counterfeit or had been bought as presents for her by her family on holidays to places like Turkey and Spain.
She also claimed that the family was in the habit of keeping large amounts of cash at home, rather than in a bank, and that she was entrusted to look after them for family members because she was seen as being a “responsible” person who could be “trusted” with money.
She had shown remorse for what she had done.
There were references from previous employers and others. She had tried to get work and had done voluntary work.