Family OCG Guilty of 1 Tonne Cocaine Conspiracy
28 April 2025
Charlotte Hole and Sam Willis prosecuted a family of drug traffickers responsible for moving at least one tonne of cocaine from ports in the South East to towns and cities across the UK.
Headed up by grandmother Deborah Mason, self-described as ‘Gangster Debbs’ and saved in another defendant’s phone as ‘Queen Bee’, the close-knit group of nine defendants were responsible for collecting up to 60 1kg blocks of cocaine at a time from the Harwich / Colchester area, and then delivering them to serious organised crime groups in Rotherham, Bradford, Leicester, Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff for onward supply. Around 55 individual trips were made by the group during 2023, each trip involving multiple drug drops or cash collections, amounting to around a tonne of cocaine in total.
The trial of eight of the defendants at Woolwich Crown Court concluded this week, and involved the presentation of cell site and ANPR mapping, surveillance evidence, and a schedule of 7,500 messages exchanged between the defendants revealing the inner workings of the conspiracy.
Two of the defendants pleaded guilty during the trial and six were convicted by the jury. One defendant had already pleaded guilty at an earlier stage in the proceedings.
Charlotte and Sam were instructed by Rob Hutchinson of the CPS Complex Casework Unit.
