| |
Karen Stott - recruited her sons in round-the-clock drug operation |
Mum and sons coke gang are jailed
‘Arrogant’ woman headed round-the-clock operation selling drugs to West End clubbers
A DRUGS “queen pin” and her two sons who ran a round-the-clock cocaine dealing operation for West End clubbers have been sentenced to almost nine years behind bars.
Karen Stott, 49, and her sons Vidal, 22, and Khan, 24, drove across London to the reaches of the M25 to supply their “product” day or night.
But the trio’s crime empire fell apart after an undercover police operation.
They were busted selling wraps of cocaine to plain clothes officers posing as clients on 23 separate occasions over six months.
All three admitted supplying cocaine between April and September 2007 at Southwark Crown Court this week.
The Stotts, from Maida Vale, Euston and Kilburn, were arrested after a six-month operation by the Met Police’s Clubs and Vice Unit – codenamed “Fairsailing”. The dealers operated a shift system with one of them always on call via a mobile phone to deliver the drugs.
Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Martin described Ms Stott as “arrogant” and said her sons’ involvement demonstrated a “particularly sad” case of misplaced “family loyalty”.
“It’s patriarchy sad because most drug dealers co-opt people through intimidation or if people want to make money,” he said.
“But this is almost family loyalty that kicks in, which is more beneficial to the mum, but puts people into an area they wouldn’t normally have gone.”
Ms Stott was arrested on September 18 at her home. Her son Vidal was arrested at 1am the same day driving his car near Marble Arch. On searching his vehicle, police seized £300 in cash and found 20 grams of cocaine at his home.
The Stotts made hundreds of thousands of pounds from the business, spending money on lavish holidays, sports cars and designer clothes.
DCS Martin said they were able to operate “under the radar” for so long because they worked a shadowy “mid tier” of clientele, mostly made up of West End clubbers, that didn’t “tread on any toes”.
He said: “They were in a unique position where they were not dealing enough to worry the gangs, but enough not to be observable to police as some of the street dealers.”
He added: “Because they were at this mid-tier they expected to keep going and that’s where the arrogance kicks in.”
Passing sentence, Judge Martin Beddoe said: “This was well organised and, as a result, on no less than 23 occasions test purchasers were able to buy significant quantities of cocaine at relatively high quality.”
He told Ms Stott she had “compounded the seriousness” of her situation by recruiting her sons. But he went on to say: “They were grown men so I don’t exaggerate that culpability on your part.”
Ms Stott and Vidal received three years’ jail each, while Khan was handed a 27-month sentence. |
 |
|
|
| |
| |
