Inside shocking rise of gangster grannies… death row OAP to queen of UK drug empire peddling coke laced with worm powder
THEY appear to be sweet, maternal pillars of the community – but their innocent facade is what makes the growing breed of gangster grannies so effective.
This week Lucy Adcock, 47, was uncovered as the unlikely operations manager of an organised crime group.
The mum of five spearheaded a gang that used drones to drop drugs and contraband including mobile phones into prisons around Britain.
And on Wednesday, wheelchair-bound pensioner Elizabeth Balaam received a two year suspended sentence for a large scale drug operation.
The 67-year-old, from Thetford in Norfolk, was described in court as a “busy heroin supplier with expectations”.
Now leading crime psychologist Professor David Canter has revealed older women make successful cons because they appear friendly, kind and caring.
“The view that there is something odd about a grandmother being involved in a crime could be seen as a mixture of ageism and sexism combined,” he says.
“We have this notion based on stereotypes of what women of a certain age are capable of.
“But in fact they are able to be quite determined and malicious. They can be tough cookies.”
Death row in Bali for 14 years
Another British grandmother, Lindsay Sandiford, was facing a firing squad for drug smuggling.
But earlier this year a change in the law meant her death sentence could be changed to life behind bars.
The 67 year old from Yorkshire has been on death row in Bali for nearly 14 years for trying to smuggle £1.6 million worth of cocaine in her suitcase in 2012.
Other inmates branded her “foul mouthed” and “antagonistic”.
Jailed for 15 months at 53
Just last week Julie Sweeney, 53, was jailed for 15 months after posting on Facebook that mosques should be blown up.
The gran from Cheshire took to social media in the aftermath of the tragic Southport stabbings, which were followed by rioting.
She posted: “Don’t protect the mosques. Blow the mosque up with the adults in it.”
At her sentencing at Chester Crown Court, Judge Steven Everett branded Sweeney a “keyboard warrior” adding “even people like you need to go to prison”.
Prof Canter added: “If a woman has grown up in a violent or criminal context then they can become involved in that world too – they are subject to the same influences as men.
“However women who fit this demographic tend not to be violent, they are usually more involved in fraud or managing criminality.
“And older women often get away with it for a long time because we imagine they are less likely to have criminal tendencies.
“Fraudsters can hide behind this image of being sweet, innocent and vulnerable old ladies.
“They draw on our perception that the term granny has – an implication of being friendly, helpful, kind, supportive and importantly non violent.
“But that can be misleading.”
Colombian crime-lord-granny
He went on to explain that soldiers who are trained to deal with hijackers or terrorists often need additional sessions to learn how to disarm or kill women first – because it feels so wrong.
“It is our natural tendency to think women are not as dangerous as men,” he said.
“Soldiers need special training for this because they might naturally be reluctant to take women out.
“But there are many occasions when women can be equally – if not more – dangerous than men.”
Modern Family star Sofia Vergara recently played murderous Colombian crime boss Griselda Blanco, a granny who became known as the Black Widow, in a Netflix drama called Griselda.
She was a ruthless key figure in the cocaine trade in Miami and New York, earning her millions and was thought to have been involved in over 40 murders, including killing three of her husbands and even ordering the shooting of a child.
But her notorious orgies of violence came to an end when she was shot dead in 2012.
Other more recent cases involving gangster grannies include Charmaine Roman who laundered millions of dollars as the bookkeeper for a violent Jamaican marijuana smuggling ring in Florida.
Police said she was the kingpin of the group and helped launder money at a Las Vegas casino to the tune of $3 million – while caring for her young grandson.
Drug-smuggling grannies
Last year a grandmother serving an 11 year sentence for running a drugs enterprise was ordered to pay back £120,000 of criminal cash.
Diane Wright, along with her husband and their three grandsons, were accused of selling addictive substances including cocaine laced with laxatives and worming powder – and sentenced to a combined total of 34 years at Newcastle Crown Court.
Another gran, Janet Shaw, 56, was jailed for ten months for smuggling crack cocaine into a men’s prison in her mouth – and trying to hand it over with a kiss.
In 2015 she hid the drugs in her underwear before slipping it into her mouth while visiting an inmate at HMP Risley in Cheshire.
Katherine Nash, a 52-year-old grandmother was also caught smuggling drugs into another prison. She was trapped by sniffer dogs as she tried to take £5 worth of cannabis into HMP Hewell in Worcester in 2015.
And a drug dealing great granny who had been on the run for twelve years was eventually caught and jailed in 2013.
Former Big Brother winner Josie Gibson was in court to see her grandmother Diane Gibson sentenced.
She had originally been nicked in 1998 with 2.9kg of cocaine in the boot of her car.
Cooked cannabis casseroles
UK's most notorious gangsters and criminals
- Notorious prisoner Charlie Bronson
- The Kray Twins from London’s East End
- Former gangster Marvin Herbert
- Ex-armed robber Vic Dark
- Former gangland enforcer Brian Cockerill
- Notorious British criminal Carlton Leach
- Paul Sykes – known as Britain’s hardest prisoner
- Kevin Lane – given a life sentence for murder
- Convicted murderer Tony Argent
- Former drug-smuggler Chet Sandhu
- Fearless UK hardman Lee Duffy
- Career criminal Curtis Warren
- Gangleader Charlie Richardson
- A-Team leader Terry Adams
Meanwhile Patricia Tabram, a 66-year-old granny who cooked cannabis cakes, soups, pies and casseroles for neighbours appeared at Newcastle Crown Court in 2005.
She was given 250 hours of community service.
Often older women are persuaded to commit crimes because they believe they are helping out their loved ones.
“They can be caring and concerned about other members of their family who might be in trouble,” Professor Canter explained.
“A loving mother or grandmother might believe that criminality is in the best interest of their children or grandchildren.
“They want to help them.
“They feel sorry for them – even when that person has done something wrong.
“There is often an element of wanting to help if a member of the family is suffering or in danger of some sort.
“When that is the case older ladies can be vulnerable to coercion because they do not have the strength or resources to escape or fight back.
“There have been cases dating back hundreds of years.
“I can recall one from the nineteenth century when a group of elderly landladies were killing off their lodgers and tenants and continuing to claim the money.”