North Rigton mother jailed for smuggling heroin (From Wharfedale Observer)

North Rigton mother jailed for smuggling heroin

8:43am Wednesday 11th July 2007 in Local news By Michael Black

A BUSINESSWOMAN has been jailed for 12 years for trying to smuggle £6m of heroin into Yorkshire.

Tina Banks, 33, of Craine Syke Farm, North Rigton, near Otley, hid the heroin in compartments of a horse box next to her two-year-old daughter's toys.

She was caught bringing the heroin into the King George Docks at Hull on October 12 last year by customs officers after travelling on a ferry from Holland.

The 60kg of heroin was split into four bags and hidden in the living accommodation of a horse box she had purchased just days before in order to hide the heroin. The mother-of-three had three pedigree horses and her two-year-old daughter with her as a decoy to officials.

She pleaded guilty to acting as a courier and importing the heroin at Hull Crown Court. Recorder Guy Kearle sentenced her to 12 years for the £6m haul.

He said: "You took your daughter with you as cover. You were a critical part of a huge operation. You attempted to bring into the UK a large amount of heroin which brings misery to the lives of those once it finds its way on to the streets. This offence is so serious only a substantial custodial sentence can be justified."

He praised the work of the Hull customs officers and the police officers with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) who brought the case.

A spokesman for SOCA said: "A criminal who wanted to import misery to our streets is now behind bars. We wouldn't have achieved this without the help of Customs and the Crown Prosecution Service."

She had accused a fellow equestrian owner of planting the drugs but later admitted this was a lie.

Prosecutor Paul Mitchell said: "She had an interest in horses and had made a number of previous trips to Holland to buy Friesian horses which are a special interest in this country."

Her barrister, Simon Reevel, said: "Here is a woman, a mother of three children, living with her parents in a pleasant part of North Yorkshire. She is a doting mother who was looking after an elderly grandmother. She bitterly regrets a time years ago when she became dazzled by a particular individual who seemed more interesting than the others in the comfy North Yorkshire village.

"She was then dragged into a world where she could find no escape. There came a point when she did escape from that with a man she met.

"As a girl in her teens she had all the advantages of a comfy middle class upbringing but she was on the run from criminals. She thought it was all behind her in the North Rigton area. With the farm, her business, she thought she was able to get on with the rest of her life until she was approached by those from her past and she said she would assist them. She made the wrong decision but hopes you will understand why she came to the decision she did.

"She said they were menacing to her and her animals and had been seen outside her children's school."

Banks ran an equestrian business in North Rigton, where she made regular trips to Holland to import horses to sell in the UK.

A proceeds of crime hearing is due to be held into her finances next year.