A DRUGS gang from Liverpool took over a Carlisle woman’s home for an entire year as they set up a county lines dealing operation.

Such was the control exercised by the drugs criminal who moved into 53-year-old Sharon Patricia Beattie's Carlisle home that she had to sleep on her settee while he used her bed.

Beattie admitted being concerned in the supply of the class A drug.

At Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Brendan Burke outlined the facts, pointing out that the three Merseyside offenders who ran the the lucrative county lines drugs operation had gone on the run and were yet to be dealt with.

He described how the defendant, a known heroin addict, presented the Merseyside gang with the “perfect” opportunity for a so-called cuckooing operation, where criminals “colonise” the property of a vulnerable person as a base for dealing.

“Her reward was heroin for her own consumption,” said Mr Burke.

At the time of the conspiracy, in the year up to May of 2021, police identified two Merseyside dealers who stayed at her Baird Road home. 

One of those defendants was arrested outside her flat, with heroin hidden in his boot. “There is more evidence about his activity,” said Mr Burke.

“He stayed there [at the defendant’s flat] while he was dealing and took over to the extent that she was relegated to sleeping on the sofa while he slept in her bed.

"She had been introduced to [the man] by her dealer..

“That was part of the colonisation process, introducing themselves to people like [Beattie’s dealer] and appropriating his contacts list.”

Mr Burke said the prosecution accepted that Beattie was vulnerable, being both addicted to heroin and a woman who was living alone, her then partner having been sent to prison.

“She volunteered that she had habit costing £30 to £40 per day and seeking to support that on benefits of £360 per fortnight,” continued Mr Burke.

The prosecutor then outlined how Beattie was threatened by the Liverpool gang members when they suspected that she was refusing to tell them the whereabouts of a person they were looking for.

They called her more than 80 times and took to driving past her house slowly, threatening to attack both her and the property.

Mr Burke accepted that Beattie had no influence on the Merseyside dealers and her involvement in the drug dealing operation was the most “egregious” example of how the Liverpool criminals exploited the vulnerable.

The court heard that the Baird Road address was one of a number of dealing bases set up in Carlisle by the Liverpool gang.

Anthony Parkinson, defending, said the evidence showed that Beattie was the “least to blame” for the dealing operation, and her offence was almost one of “permitting her premises” to be used for drug dealing.

 “She was forced to let these people supply drugs from this address,” said Mr Parkinson. “Yes, she did so for a long period of time and that makes it more serious but we say it's closer to permitting her premises [to be used for drug dealing].”

In the two years since the offending came to light, Beattie had stopped using illicit drugs and was now on a prescription for methadone, the heroin substitute.

She had also distanced herself from “negative influences.”

“If she were to go to prison, she would be back among people who are using Class A drugs,” pointed out Mr Parkinson.

Judge Michael Fanning noted the defendant’s “relatively limited” criminal record, which comprised 16 previous offences, with her last conviction being a shop theft five years ago.

Beattie committed her offence while under threat and her role was restricted to allowing a “thug” to move into her one-bedroom flat, said the judge.  

Judge Fanning also noted the 85 calls made to Beattie by one Merseyside criminal who threatened to beat her up and damage her property.

It was the absent offenders at the “top of the tree” who dished out the threats and the violence and it would be absurd not to reflect on the defendant’s addiction and unrealistic to expect her to go up against the thugs involved.

“You are vulnerable,” observed the judge.

He pointed out that Beattie had now found stability for the first time, while prisons are “choc full” to the point where emergency provisions are being introduced to free up places. 

Beattie was given a 24-month jail term, suspended for 24 months.

The sentence includes ten rehabilitation activity days. “You found yourself in a nasty situation and you didn’t have the wherewithal to get yourself out of it,” added the judge.