A 63-year-old grandmother who used her housing association property for a Class A drug dealing operation has been spared jail. Donna Glynn was caught when police, acting on a tip-off, found nearly £10,000 in cash in a bookcase, cocaine in a Horlicks tub in her kitchen, and heroin in her garden shed at her home in Wigan.
Glynn claimed her ex-partner was a drug user and that she did not know about the drugs, denying the crimes and going to trial. Some of the cocaine found at the home was 81 per cent pure, while some was cut with creatine powder.
Conviction and Sentence
Glynn was convicted of being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine by a jury in September. A judge let her walk free from court on a suspended prison sentence, telling her there was "very little evidence of [her] having a management function in the chain or controlling street runners".
He added: "You have physical ailments and your son and bereaved mother are dependent on you."
Police Raid and Evidence
Manchester Crown Court earlier heard that officers swooped on Glynn's Collett Close home, in the Scholes area of the borough, in April 2021 following a tip-off that drugs were being supplied from the property. She had lived there for 27 years.
"She said she shared the property with her ex-partner... but when police entered she was there alone," prosecution barrister Craig McGregor said. Searches turned up quantities of cocaine, in high-purity and cut forms, heroin and electronic scales bearing drug residue. Mr McGregor said Glynn "used her housing association home for a lucrative Class A drug dealing operation".
Officers found £9,645 in cash in a bookcase. Glynn gave "no proper explanation" where it came from, claiming £1,600 was her life savings and the rest was her ex's savings for a car.
Drugs Found in Kitchen and Shed
In the kitchen, police found 193g of cocaine in bags in a Horlicks tub in a kitchen cupboard. Around 158g of the cocaine was of 81 per cent purity, the rest around 12 per cent, having been cut with creatine powder. Glynn's fingerprints were found on the bags. A set of electric scales found next to the Horlicks tub had traces of heroin, cocaine and cannabis.
Tubs were found in Glynn's garden shed containing 60g of heroin, with her fingerprints found on bags. The heroin had an estimated value of £5,920, while the cocaine was estimated to be worth £15,800 and £1,400 in its high-purity and cut forms respectively. The discovery of a bag of creatine powder in the garden was the basis for a "clear inference", Mr McGregor said, that the high-purity drugs would be cut.
"She denied ever being involved and sought to blame her ex-partner," he added. "But these were her fingerprints, her living room, her kitchen cupboard where the tub of cocaine was found at eye level."
Background and Mitigation
Glynn has two previous convictions for five offences, including possession with intent to supply cannabis in 1983, and fraud and assault in 1993. "These are very old offences, but it's fraud, lying and drugs," Mr McGregor said.
Defence barrister Tomas Quinn said Glynn was "on the cusp" between a lesser and significant role, but "must have had some awareness and understanding". She was said to have "serious" medical conditions and mobility problems and provides support to her 34-year-old son who lives independently but has "some mental health issues".
Judge Mason took issue with the 17 medical documents uploaded. "A letter about her adult son's podiatry issues from 2023 - how does that assist me?" he asked Mr Quinn, who said it was intended to offer "understanding of the ailments" affecting the family. "She attends his home on a daily basis, he depends on her emotionally, and he was living with her until all this happened," he added. "She motivates him to do everything - to get up and wash, do normal daily functions, he does not leave the property otherwise."
He said Glynn's father passed away on November 4, meaning she now has to care for her bereaved mother. Handing her a three-year sentence, suspended for two years, Judge Paul Mason acknowledged that she had not reoffended since 2021 and presented a "low risk" of harm of reoffending, with a "realistic" prospect of rehabilitation.
"You claimed your ex-partner was a drug user and that you were not aware," he told her. "But there was very little evidence of you having a management function in the chain or controlling street runners. I am persuaded - just - to suspend the sentence in this case. You have physical ailments and your son and bereaved mother are dependent on you. If you reoffend in that time I will need significant persuasion not to send you to prison."
Declared as "unsuitable" for unpaid work, Glynn was ordered to pay a victim surcharge and a fine of £500 to be paid by May 31, 2027, which is to come out of her Universal Credit payments.
