The head of an organised crime gang and daughter of adrug feud murder victim was handed a four year sentence today for a multitude of drug offences.
Ordering 31-year-old Newry woman Whitney Hughes to serve half that sentence in jail and half on supervised licence conditions, Judge Paul Ramsey KC, said “it gives the court no pleasure to send a young lady to prison but the nature of the offences and the length of time over which they occurred leave me little or no other alternative”.
The Newry Crown Court judge, sitting in Craigavon, said while Hughes herself had boasted that she was the “primary supplier” of drugs in her area, a boast which he “takes with a certain pinch of salt,” he added it was clear that despite being unemployed she had “enjoyed an affluent lifestyle…full of holidays and concerts and so on.”
Appearing in the dock wearing a white shirt, Hughes stood with her head bowed as Judge Ramsey said that no matter her boasts of being the head of a drug supply gang, “she was very heavily involved”.
At an earlier hearing Hughes entered guilty pleas to ten of the 16 charge against her with the indictment covering a time span between April 27 and July 4, 2022.
In total Hughes, originally from Ardcarn Park in Newry, admitted seven drug offences relating to possessing and supplying cocaine, MDMA and steroids, two counts of trading in counterfeit goods and one of possessing criminal property.
The charges disclose that Hughes had £13,391 of criminal property and also that she was trading in fake merchandise from Liverpool FC and Manchester United FC.
Summarising the case during his sentencing remarks on Tuesday, Judge Ramsey outlined how the charges rose after police searched a metal storage container on the Mountain Road, in south Armagh, on July 4.
“After it was opened the police noted a strong smell of cannabis,” said the judge adding that Crime Scene Investigators attended the scene and as a result of their searches, officers seized large bags of cannabis, bundles of cash, white powder which transpired to be cocaine, amphetamine and MDMA, financial documents, scales and mobile phones.
The value on the drugs, which included more than four kilos of cannabis and 100 grams of cocaine, was estimated to be between £31,000-£42,0000 said Judge Ramsey, describing that in addition police found £13,391 in cash as well as fake Liverpool and Manchester United football shirts.
Although the police seized three mobile phones Hughes refused to give investigators the passcodes for them but despite her lack of cooperation, specialised officers from the PSNI cyber crime unit managed to gain access and from them, detectives obtained “lists of names and amounts from January right through to July 2022”.
“Messages about drugs business and messages about supplying drugs,” the judge told the court adding that officers also found “messages and videos and audio files which indicated to police that the defendant enjoyed an affluent lifestyle including holidays abroad, expensive hotels and concerts, all at a time when she was unemployed”.
Judge Ramsey revealed that within the plethora of messages, Hughes boasted that “she was the primary supplier of drugs in the area,” something which her defence team say was based on “bravado” on her part.
According to the prosecution case, Hughes was “significantly involved in drugs supply in border areas” and was also heavily involved in sourcing fake goods from China, having them transported to NI and then selling the items on.
Judge Ramsey said that in support of their contention, the PPS emphasis that Hughes was the key holder to the storage container, it was rented in her name, she lived a lavish lifestyle despite having no other discernible income and “she said herself that she was the primary supplier in the areas”.
“I take that with a certain pinch of salt but there is no doubt that she was very heavily involved,” declared the judge.
Arrested and interviewed Hughes remained silent throughout police questioning and she served a full year on remand before she was eventually granted bail.
In November 2022, just four months after Hughes had been arrested and while she was still in prison, two hit men tried to murder her father in Dundalk and an earlier court court heard how police feared there was a cross border drug feud between rival gangs vying to be top dog.
A month later in December 2022, Hughes’ father Mark ‘The Chicken’ Lovell was gunned down in Newry in a killing believed to have been ordered by a local drug gang.
Lovell (58) was shot a number of times at close range inside his car while he was parked outside the home of a relative at Ardcarn Park in Newry on December 1, 2022 and to date, no one has been charged with or made amenable for the assassination.
Turning to various defence reports, Judge Ramsey said Hughes herself had conceded to probation that “things got out of control in 2022” but it was also clear that at the time she had exhibited a “lack of consequential thinking and a propensity to engage in risk taking behaviour”.
In jailing Hughes, the judge said the PPS and PSNI had asked him to impose a Serious Crime Prevention Order but Judge Ramsey declined.
In doing so he highlighted there had to be a clear necessity to protect the public for such an order but Hughes had been assessed as not using a danger and in any event,. “She will be under supervision for a significant period” as per her eventual prison release licence.
