Residents of the inner-city road that featured in the first series of Channel 4’s Benefits Street documentary series were involved in running drugs operation from their homes, a jury has been told.
The six, who all lived on or near James Turner Street in Birmingham, conspired to prepare, store and sell significant quantities of drugs, the city’s crown court heard.
Samora Roberts, also known as “Black Dee” Roberts, is among six defendants accused of conspiring to supply crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis in the summer of 2013.
When police raided homes in June of that year after a surveillance operation they also found a pink shoe in a washing basket at Roberts’ home containing 13 bullets. In a neighbour’s home Roberts’ DNA was found on a sock that contained a further five shells, it is claimed.
Discovered under the 33-year-old’s bed was a key to a Ford Focus parked in the street, inside which was a bag of crack cocaine with a street value of £5,000.
Roberts denies two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, conspiracy to supply cannabis and two further charges of illegally having ammunition.
Samantha Forsyth, prosecuting, said: “Essentially, this is a case about the selling of drugs.”
She explained that the “street has gained a degree of publicity because there was a TV programme based on some of the residents who lived in that street”.
Forsyth said the jury would hear evidence from police, who had carried out a 14-day surveillance operation in the road filming “the comings and goings” of the defendants and others who did not live on the street.
She added: “The police secretly filmed the defendants going about what we say was their unlawful business: the selling of drugs.
“Each and every one, to a lesser or greater extent, were involved in selling drugs from that street,” said Forsyth.
Addressing the jury, she said: “You’ll see the various defendants going about sometimes day-to-day ordinary business, but also what the crown suggest are drug dealings happening in that street – the exchange of drugs, for money.”
Sample footage shot by undercover police of the defendants handling “items and packages passed about and handed to people in the street or pulling up in cars” was then shown to jurors.
The footage allegedly showed that by 2.30pm on one day in May, 10 people had entered Roberts’ home for just a couple of minutes at a time before leaving.
In a lighter moment, that film showed Benefits Street personality Deirdre Kelly, known as “White Dee”, knocking on Roberts’ door. She is not implicated in the alleged conspiracy.
Before the start of the prosecution case, Judge Philip Parker QC told potential jurors only people who had never watched Benefits Street could sit on the jury.
Parker said: “In this particular court we’re going to be dealing with defendants who lived or had an association with James Turner Street in Winson Green, which has featured on a reality documentary-type programme called Benefits Street.”
He added: “It’s no problem if you’ve heard of this programme, or if it’s been on for a second or two as you left the room or surfed channels. But it might cause a problem if you’ve watched the programme. We want people to consider the case utterly impartially.”
Crack cocaine hidden inside a plastic Kinder egg container was found in Wilson’s home.
Roberts appeared in the dock alongside Charlene Wilson, 31, Tina Thomas, 47, and Ian Wright, 39.
Wright, Thomas and Wilson are accused of conspiracy to supply crack cocaine, cannabis, and heroin in May and June 2013. Thomas also denies one count of illegally possessing ammunition.
Two others, 22-year-old Omari George and Marvin Scott, 38, both deny three counts of conspiracy to supply crack cocaine, cannabis and heroin.
The jury heard further details about what the police raids uncovered inside Roberts’ home, including nine packets of cannabis, 16g of crack cocaine, a small amount of heroin and just over £500 in cash.
Equipment the crown claims is used in the preparation of drugs was also found, including five sets of scales.
Forsyth said: “You may wonder why anybody has five sets of scales – even the keenest baker wouldn’t perhaps have five sets of scales.”
When arrested and searched, Roberts had £200 cash in her waistband, and a further two bags of cannabis.
She later told officers: “You didn’t even get the guy or four others involved – this makes me laugh”.
Roberts denied the crack and heroin were hers, and said the cash had come from her grandmother and she used the scales to weigh cannabis.
Forsyth said Roberts “described her house as an open house, and items such as the car keys” were nothing to do with her.
The trial continues.
