A BRADFORD mother has been warned to prepare to go to prison for allowing her home to be the hub of a major drug trafficking racket.

Julie Firth turned a blind eye to the two kilos of high purity cocaine with a street value of more than £100,000 being stored at the family home in Farfield Crescent, Wibsey.

Firth, 48, a medical secretary, was yesterday found guilty by a jury at Bradford Crown Court of allowing her partner, Richard “Bingy” Brown, to involve her home in a major drug running conspiracy that saw cocaine ferried from West Yorkshire to South Yorkshire.

Her barrister, Peter Hampton, asked the court to adjourn sentence so that a probation officer could assess the impact of immediate custody on her two younger children.

Judge David Hatton QC warned Firth to be prepared for an immediate sentence of imprisonment.

She was bailed to be back in court on December 12.

During the trial, prosecutor Stephen Wood said Firth must have known full well that Brown was trafficking drugs from her home.

When the police raided the address on August 10 last year, they seized bags of cocaine from the kitchen and the utility room, numerous phones and £8,000 in cash.

Just hours before the police searched her home, Firth handed a bag to a man called John Lowcock when he called at her address.

Lowcock’s blue Mercedes travelled to Doncaster Road, Tickhill, and he took a carrier bag into the property.

When the police searched the house, they found packages of cocaine valued at £50,000.

Firth told the police she did not know what was in the bag Lowcock came to collect and she denied any knowledge of the other drugs.

Mr Wood told the jury: “How could she not have noticed the bag of drugs on the settee? How could she not have noticed the boxes and boxes of adulterants? The bag of cash on the settee? The other large quantities of drugs in the house? How could she not know what was really going on?”

After Firth was found guilty, Mr Wood told the jury that Brown was jailed for 10 years and three months at Bradford Crown Court in September for his part in the conspiracy.

Brown, 54, the author of a book called Living the Dream, was described as the controlling mind in the drugs plot, along with Sherman Mallinson, of Sceptre Grove, Doncaster, who was locked up for 13 years.

Lowcock was jailed for nine years and two months after he admitted being involved in conspiracies to supply cocaine and amphetamine, while Matthew Billing, 25, of Woodlands Road, Doncaster, was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Melissa Whitehead, 38, of Boundary Avenue, Doncaster, was locked up for three years for the same offence.

All the defendants will be subject to a Proceeds of Crime Application.

Mr Wood said the Crown wanted a Serious Crime Prevention Order in relation to Brown who was believed to own properties in Jamaica.