A cocaine -dealing mum who took her own kids along on drugs runs while "running errands" for her criminal boyfriend has been jailed for three years.
Sinead Lavelle, 34, would go on drug trips to collect and pay for packages for her partner, Gareth Pegler, whilst having her children in the car during trips to Ilfacrombe.
She tried to hide behind her relationship with Pegler, 39, a convicted drug trafficker, to try and evade prosecution for her own drug offences.
Worcester Crown Court heard she was part of an £800,000 plot to transport 20kg of cocaine from the West Midlands into Devon which was fronted by her partner Gareth Pegler.
The 34-year-old denied any involvement in the plot and claimed she was "ghosted" by Pegler, who would cheat on her and described their relationship as "on-off but mostly off".
She told the court: "He was cheating on me left, right and centre.
"I suspected he was having an affair with the apprentice at the tattoo shop which turned out to be true."
She was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine by a jury following a four-week trial last December.
And last Friday, Lavelle, of Kidderminster, Worcs., was locked up for three years at Hereford Crown Court.
His Honour Judge Martin Jackson said although Lavelle may not have been a "totally willing participant" she was at the very least "turning a blind eye".
He told her: "You stayed and rekindled a relationship with a partner who is a professional criminal so there has to be a price to pay".
The court heard how tattoo parlour boss Pegler, previously jailed for 14 years, would get his "missus" to run errands and sent her to see his cocaine supplier in Devon.
The 20kg of cocaine linked to Pegler and his gang was valued at the time of the conspiracy at between £35,000 and £40,000 per kilo.
He would also get other family members to do his "dirty work" before being rumbled by police when officers uncovered their three drugs dens.
Pegler's phone was also tracked moving to Devon 26 times, "most of the time at night" and most of the visits "very brief".
Examination of his mobile also uncovered a message from one cocaine supplier who told him: "Don't keep sending different people around my house."
Gareth Pegler replied in another message: "It was my missus mate and my apprentice."
Four men, including Pegler were convicted of drug related offences during the same trial and subsequently sentenced to a total of more than 26 years in prison.
The other men were Mighele Massey, of Dudley, Karl Browning, of Kidderminster, and Gareth Pegler's brother Darren Pegler, also of Kidderminster.
Massey was jailed for seven years and nine months, Browning for four years and Darren Pegler received a 12 month prison sentence.
Jailing Gareth Pegler previously, Judge Jackson said: "In this case you, Gareth Pegler, were at the head of this conspiracy.
"You became involved in the large scale supply of cocaine both to the West Midlands and down into Devon."
"You also involved other people, members of your own family. That, it seems to me, is a significant aggravating feature.
"Anyone who involves members of their own household - in particular the mother of their own children - really displays an entirely selfish and callous attitude towards their offending.
"This is serious, commercial, wholesale dealing of class A drugs."
Detective Sergeant Gareth Evans, of West Mercia Police, said afterwards: "Wives and partners often try and hide behind the relationship claiming a lack of knowledge in an attempt to evade prosecution, as Sinead Lavelle did in this case.
"She assisted with the enterprise and benefited from both the profits and the lifestyle.
"As a result of her involvement and sentence her children are now faced with the unfortunate situation where both parents are absent and serving sentences in prison."
