A former star of Britain's Got Talen , who was tipped as the new Charlotte Church, helped her boyfriend mastermind a drug racket on the dark web, a court has heard.
Singer Olivia Archbold, 23, was accused of selling drugs in batches to a network of customers after 24-year old Alex Nash used Bitcoin to order cannabis online from Holland and America over a three year period.
Manchester Crown Court heard the pair would inject the cannabis consitituent Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC into chocolate bars and sweets before posting packages around the country using encrypted messaging.
Police busted the scheme after intercepting suspicious parcels addressed to the couple's Manchester apartment.
They raided the flat in June 2017.
Today Manchester Crown Court heard Nash was the mastermind of the operation but Archbold was said to have played a ''significant role''.
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Prosecutors said she "had an awareness and understanding'' of the scale of what her boyfriend was doing.
She was also accused of laundering £51,000 in dirty money through her NatWest and Santander bank accounts.
The singer, a former pupil at an all girls' private school, made it to the semi finals of the ITV1 talent show in 2010 aged just 14.
She was praised by judges Simon Cowell , Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan for her ''utterly spellbinding'' performance of 'In the Arms of Angels.'
She received a standing ovation, but missed out on a missed a place in the final.
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Archbold admitted production of cannabis, being concerned in the supply of the drug and possessing criminal property.
Nash, 24, admitted the same offences plus a further charge of importing cannabis between March 2014 and June 2017.
Nash's younger brother Christian, 21, from Cheshire, admitted fielding cannabis consignments at Newcastle University where is a student.
Alex Nash's best friend Jordan May, 25 from Bredbury, Stockport admitted being concerned in the supply of cann and possessing criminal property.
Prosecutor Rob Hall said: ''The operation took place over a three year period.
"Alex Nash was using a many different cyber identities which were reported, anonymous and encrypted on the dark web.
"Alex Nash used the bitcoins available to him for those cannabis transactions.
''Through sophisticated and untraceable transactions, he submitted orders for cannabis which was imported from outside the UK, namely the Netherlands and the Unites States of America.
"The team of Alex Nash, Olivia Archbold and Jordan May broke up the imported cannabis into smaller amounts and sold it in the UK to customers using anonymous and encrypted messaging, on the dark web.
''Even smaller consignments were posted to those other UK customers using the Royal Mail.
"The importation of the ingredient THC was injected into confectionary such as chocolate bars and lollipops and they grew different plants for onward sale. They made a tidy profit...
“Olivia Archbold was the cohabiting girlfriend of Alex Nash.
"She played a significant role in the operation, she had an awareness and understanding of the scale of the operation and the operational function, the money laundered through her account and the use of her name in the receiving of consignments of cannabis.''
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