THREE people who became involved in the distribution of illegal drugs have been jailed by a judge at Bournemouth Crown Court.
The trio were found guilty of conspiring to supply cocaine after a 10-week trial, which ended last month with mastermind Mohamed Pour, 44, being imprisoned for 14 years.
His Filipina girlfriend, former Poole Hospital nurse Cheryl Lawes, 27, has now been jailed for five years; while former semi-professional footballer Fathi Dridi, 37, from Tunisia, and Iranian asylum seeker Haider Mirzayari were each handed seven year sentences.
Judge Christopher Harvey Clark recommended that Mirzayari should be deported after serving his sentence, but spared Lawes because it would separate her from her seven-year-old daughter.
The court heard that Pour - who lived with Lawes in Cavendish Road, Bourne-mouth - had been engaged in the supply of cocaine to a large number of people all over Bourne-mouth, making 15 to 20 deliveries a day.
A two-month police surveillance operation ended with a raid on a flat in Chesterfield Court, Manor Road, Bourne-mouth in May last year. Officers found £10,000 in cash on the premises and high-purity cocaine with a street value of more than £35,000.
"Faced with an overwhelming body of surveillance evidence, many would have chosen to plead guilty, but all three of you chose to brazen it out by lying to the jury," said the judge.
He accepted the trio had been under the influence of "clever" and "manipulative" Pour, but described Dridi and Mirzayari, who acted as drivers, as "lieutenants and willing participants". The judge said he was satisfied that both men had helped prepare wraps of the drug.
He told Lawes he was satisfied that she had been under the power and "malign" influence of Pour.
She wept as he told her he would not recommend her for deportation.
Defence counsel Frank Abbot, for Dridi, of Borthwick Gardens, Bournemouth, said his client was a British citizen who had become addicted to drugs when his marriage was in difficulties. He left his job in financial services and became a taxi driver. "He's a good man, but he has been absolutely stupid," said Mr Abbott.
Nigel Mitchell, for Mirzayari, of Queens Park Gardens, Bournemouth, said his client had worked for a car hire company in Ringwood for four years until his work permit was taken away from him.
He was a takeaway delivery driver when he met Pour.
Paul Hester, for Lawes, said she had turned to drink after the failure of her marriage to an Englishman.
She fell in love with Pour, then became addicted to cocaine after losing their baby. "In that emotional turmoil, she spiralled downwards and lost her judgement," he said.
