Kellie Howarth, a 45-year-old mother from Liverpool, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after admitting to selling crack cocaine to earn £60 a day. The sentence was handed down at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, following her arrest in August last year.
Arrest and Confession
Police observed Howarth, of Gradwell Street in Liverpool city centre, involved in a suspected drug transaction. When approached, she dropped two bags of crack cocaine. A subsequent search found more drugs on her and at her home, including mobile phones, tick lists, and sandwich bags.
Prosecutor Hannah Darling told the court that 2.08g of crack cocaine, with a street value of £270, was seized. Howarth confessed to making £60 a day and said she was "doing it to make money," having turned to drugs to cope with issues relating to her ex-partner.
Defense and Sentencing
Howarth has four previous convictions for five offences, but none for drug trafficking. Her defense lawyer, Peter White, described her as a "very friendly, polite, normal person" who has struggled with a chronic drug addiction for most of her life, following the death of her parents and a relationship breakdown.
White noted that Howarth has a 12-year-old daughter and two adult children, and that she spent a month in HMP Styal, where she was forced to clean up. He said she is motivated to stay clean to be part of her daughter's life.
Judge Garrett Byrne acknowledged her limited remorse and her entrenched drug lifestyle, but reduced the sentence to allow her to see her daughter sooner. He said, "It gives me no pleasure, but it will have to be an immediate term of imprisonment."
