Woman allowed drug dealers to take over home

'HER REWARD WAS GETTING FREE DRUGS'

- By MARK NAYLOR

A WOMAN who was addicted to crack cocaine allowed her home to be used as a secret base for County Lines drug dealers and her "reward" was to be given "free drugs" for herself.

Rebecca Branton was putting herself "at the mercy of" the drug dealers involved and she needed to "kick" her reliance on the "nasty, short-term" crack cocaine that she was using.

Her home was used over a 10-month period for the "organised and fairly professional operation" of selling heroin and cocaine on the streets, Hull Crown Court heard.

Branton, 50, of Link Road, Cottingham, admitted allowing her premises to be used for the supply of heroin and cocaine between March 2023 and January last year.

Michael Masson, prosecuting, said that, over a 10-month period, County Lines drug dealers from the Bradford area made repeated return trips to Hull and back. They used Branton's home in Cottingham as a base for distribution in the Hull area.