Moment 'Gangster granny' who used family to run UK-wide £80m drug empire is caught
Shocking footage shows the moment a 65-year-old 'gangster granny' is arrested for running a UK-wide drugs smuggling operation.
Deborah Mason headed a family-run criminal enterprise supplying nearly a tonne of cocaine over seven months across many of Britain's major cities, spending her ill-gotten gains on designer goods and her cat. The drugs had an estimated wholesale value of between £23 million to £35 million, and a street value of £80 million.
After pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, this week Mason was sent down for 20 years along with several other members of her family, including three of her daughters and her son.
'Gangster granny' spent money on designer items for cats
Under her supervision, groups of couriers collected packages of imported cocaine and drove them all over London, as well as Bradford, Leicester, Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff, between April and November 2023.
Mason, from North London, spent her profits on designer goods, and was looking to go Turkey to have cosmetic surgery. She also bought herself an expensive Bengal cat named 'Ghost', which she lavished with a £400 Gucci collar and nine-carat gold tag.
Deborah Mason, dubbed "gangster granny" by the Metropolitan Police, directed other members of the gang and was in contact with an upstream supplier called Bugsy. She took part in 20 trips, delivering 356kg of cocaine, and also made trips to deliver and collect cash.
Mason was in "close contact" with the upstream supplier using an encrypted app, which had auto-deletion of messages set up to keep the operation secret.
Prosecutor Charlotte Hole said: "She (Deborah Mason) recruited both her family members - her sister and her children - as well as partners and friends of her children, to a network of at least 10 individuals."
Judge Philip Shorrock noted that several of the women involved in the operation have young children.
Received £50,000 in benefits while living life of crime
The court heard Mason was in receipt of in excess of £50,000 from benefits during the period covered in her trial, while acting as ringleader of the gang and spending lavishly on luxuries.
When Mason was on holiday in Dubai, her daughter Roeseanne Mason, who made seven trips delivering about 166kg of cocaine, stepped in to the directing role, the court heard. The prosecution said Roeseanne Mason collected cash for her mother and also "provided childcare so that others could work".
Another one of Mason's daughters, mother-of-two Demi Bright, made a single trip in August 2023, which involved 60kg of cocaine. She took her children with her on the two-day trip, which involved an overnight stay in a hotel. After agreeing to deliver more drugs in November 2023, she later dropped out. Demi is thought to have stepped back from the drug plot after her sister Roeseanne Mason was arrested, and the court heard she said she wanted to "go straight" but continued to help her mother in the organisation and was "aware of its scale".
Son Reggie Bright's 12 trips as part of the gang delivered at least 90kg, and there were times he collected wages for the group. He usually took trips with his partner, Demi Kendall, 31, telling her "not to get the hump because we need the money", the court heard.
Sentenced to a combined 106 years in prison
Six women, a man and Deborah Mason were sentenced to a combined 106 years and six months' in prison on Friday.
Mason, 65, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at Woolwich Crown Court on April 28 and was sentenced at the same court to 20 years' in prison.
Roseanne Mason, 29, of Canonbury, north London, and Demi Bright, 30, of Ashford, Kent, were each sentenced to 11 years. Lillie Bright, 26, of Ashford, Kent, was sentenced to 13 years, and Demi Kendall, 31, of Staplehurst, Kent, was sentenced to 13 years and six months imprisonment. Reggie Bright, 24, of Staplehurst, Kent, was sentenced to 15 years, and Tina Golding, 66, of Ashford, Kent, was jailed for 10 years. Anita Slaughter, 44, of Ashford, Kent, was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.
After sentencing, Crown Prosecution Service specialist prosecutor Robert Hutchinson said: "This was no ordinary family. Instead of nurturing and caring for her relatives, Deborah Mason recruited them to establish an extraordinarily profitable criminal enterprise that would ultimately put them all behind bars." Met Detective Constable Jack Kraushaar, who led the investigation, described it as "a sophisticated operation". He added: "The group were sucked into criminality, selfishly attracted by the financial benefits of the drug-dealing to fund lavish lifestyles. "They were unaware we were coming for them and this sentencing should act as a deterrent to those who think about committing this type of crime."
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