Drug-dealer jailed over death

Melanie Storey told Teesside Crown Court she and her former husband, David, ran a lucrative business selling heroin to addicts on the Tudhoe Moor estate in Spennymoor, County Durham.

She said they earned as much as £500 a day selling packets of heroin for £10.

They also ran a money-lending service, charging interest at double the rate of the money borrowed, she said.

Storey, a 32-year-old mother-of-three, was the chief prosecution witness against her ex-husband, who is accused of transferring drugs money from a bank account frozen by police, which he then spent.

She was accompanied to court by officers from Durham Prison, where she is serving eight years for the manslaughter of heroin addict Desmond Johns, 43.

Giving evidence, she said: "We both supplied drugs. It went on until I was arrested in November 2001.

"I was addicted to heroin at the time. My husband was also addicted. We made about £500 to £600 a day, sometimes more, and that would be made by supplying £10 bags."

She said she continued to supply heroin when her then husband went to prison in May 2001.

She saved £10,000 from the drugs, which was deposited into her sister, Stephanie Jewett's building society account.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said the account was later frozen by police, who suspected that it was drugs money.

However, a month before Melanie Storey's trial, her sister withdrew the money from the account and transferred £9,000 into Mr Storey's bank account, said Mr Dodds.

The 36-year-old took out £8,000 on June 10, which he used to buy two secondhand BMW cars, CDs and clothes.

"He went on a spending spree," said Mr Dodds. "He knew full well the source of the cash."

Mr Storey, of Ullswater Close, Spennymoor, denies transferring the proceeds of drug trafficking. Melanie Storey pleaded guilty to concealing the proceeds of drug trafficking. Her sister pleaded guilty to transferring the proceeds of drug trafficking.

The case continues.