The head of an organised crime gang and daughter of a drugs feud murder victim has been jailed for two years for a multitude of drug offences.
Judge Paul Ramsey KC told 31-year-old Whitney Hughes that it gave “the court no pleasure to send a young lady to prison but the nature of the offences and the length of time over which they occurred leave me little or no other alternative.”
The Newry Crown Court judge, sitting in Craigavon, said while Hughes herself had boasted that she was the “primary supplier” of drugs in her area, a boast which he “takes with a certain pinch of salt,” he added it was clear that despite being unemployed she had “enjoyed an affluent life style…full of holidays and concerts and so on.”
At an earlier hearing Hughes entered guilty pleas to ten of the 16 charge against her with the indictment covering a time span between 27 April and 4 July 2022.
In total Hughes, originally from Ardcarn Park in Newry, admitted seven drug offences relating to possessing and supplying cocaine, MDMA and steroids, two counts of trading in counterfeit goods and one of possessing criminal property.
Summarising the case during his sentencing remarks on Tuesday Judge Ramsey outlined how the charges rose after police searched a storage container on the Mountain Road on 4 July.
“After it was opened the police noted a strong smell of cannabis,” said the judge adding officers seized large bags of cannabis, bundles of cash, white powder which transpired to be cocaine, amphetamine and MDMA, financial documents, scales and mobile phones.
The value on the drugs was estimated to be between £31,000-£42,0000 said Judge Ramsey, describing that in addition police found £13,391 in cash as well as fake Liverpool and Manchester United football shirts.
According to the prosecution case, Hughes was “significantly involved in drugs supply in border areas” and was also heavily involved in sourcing fake goods from China.
Judge Ramsey said that in support of their contention, the PPS emphasis that Hughes was the key holder to the storage container, it was rented in her name, she lived a lavish lifestyle despite having no other discernible income and “she said herself that she was the primary supplier in the areas.”
Arrested and interviewed Hughes remained silent throughout police questioning and she served a full year on remand before she was eventually granted bail.
In November 2022, just four months after Hughes had been arrested and while she was still in prison, two gunmen tried to murder her father in Dundalk and an earlier court court heard how police feared there was a cross border drug feud between rival gangs.
A month later in December 2022, Hughes’ father Mark ‘The Chicken’ Lovell was gunned down in Newry in a killing believed to have been ordered by a local drug gang.
Lovell (58) was shot a number of times at close range inside his car while he was parked outside the home of a relative at Ardcarn Park in Newry on December 1, 2022 .
Turning to various defence reports, Judge Ramsey said Hughes herself had conceded to probation that “things got out of control in 2022″.
In jailing Hughes he said she would be “under supervision for a significant period” on her release from jail.