‘Greedy’: Grandmother Gillian Weldrick, 53, was set to make thousands by selling on £115,000 worth of cocaine
A ‘greedy’ grandmother and upmarket restaurateur who led a secret double life as a drug trafficker after embarking on an affair with a Caribbean gangster has been jailed for 12 years.
Gillian Weldrick, 53, was arrested at Manchester Airport after border force intercepted a drugs mule she was due to meet as he tried to smuggle £115,000 worth of cocaine into the country.
The blonde mother-of-two, who worked as a boss at an acclaimed Italian eatery in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, had been planning on selling the stash in her hometown.
A court heard how Weldrick entered the drugs world after falling for notorious womaniser Ortis Ollivierre, 45, who was based 4,000 miles away in Barbados.
Ollivierre had persuaded previous lovers to help with his drug smuggling operations but is thought Weldrick was his first girlfriend to continue with the trafficking and she wired out £16,000 to West Indies to fund the mule’s trip back to the UK.
The cocaine was found to be 70 per cent pure with the rest thought to be made up with potentially lethal adulterants.
The couple have since split up following the drug bust by Border Force officers in September 2016. National Crime Agency officers said the drug mule lifted his shirt to reveal a kilo of cocaine stuffed in clear packets and wrapped around his body with bandage.
Womaniser: A court heard how Weldrick (right) entered the drugs world after falling for Ortis Ollivierre (left), 45, who convinced a string of women to become involved in his illegal operations
No remorse: Weldrick (pictured) showed no emotion as she was jailed on Thursday
Ollivierre was arrested as flew into Gatwick Airport in May.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Weldrick and Ollivierre were both convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine and money laundering offences after a trial in which a judge described her as being ‘foolish, selfish and greedy.’
She showed no emotion as she was sent down while her two daughter shouted: ‘love you mum’ and blew kisses at her from the public gallery.
Ollivierre was also jailed for 12 years and will be returned to the West Indies on his release. Drug mule Andrew McCollin, 57, from Barbados was jailed for four and a half years at an earlier hearing after he admitted importing cocaine.
Weldrick had built up a reputation as the respected manager of a popular restaurant which was featured in the BBC TV drama Happy Valley starring Sarah Lancashire.
Pictures of her on the restaurant’s social media pages showed her posing with Liverpool footballer James Milner and Hull City striker Fraizer Campell.
Jailed: Ollivierre and Welldrick were both sent to prison for 12 years
The court heard the value of the cocaine, which weighed 0.96kg, was thought to be between £33,000 and up to £115,200 on a street level when ‘bulked up’. The couple who are thought to have met whilst she was on holiday in 2015 had been working on a way to sell the 70% pure class A drug, commercially.
Prosecutor Nicola Gatto said: ‘Both defendants played a leading role in this matter and had equal responsibility in bringing the drugs from Barbados back to Manchester. They employed a friend Andrew McCollin to be the courier for the drugs. Their plan was to bring the drugs into Huddersfield for Weldrick to sell commercially.
‘Text messages found on Weldrick’s phone showed she was responsible for dealing with the drugs once they landed at Manchester Airport. The plan was for them to be running their own enterprise.’
Miss Gatto added: ‘There wasn’t a high level of sophistication in this matter as they were caught at the airport. The pair were in a relationship between 1st July 2015 and 9th September 2016, and Weldrick sent a total of £16,400 over to aid Ollivierre in the process of buying the drugs.’
The court heard Ollivierre had previous convictions for possessing drugs with intent to supply class B drugs in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In 2009 St Lucia Police arrested him at George FL Charles Airport on the island as he tried get on a flight to Barbados with 2.25kgs of cocaine – thought to be worth £250,000 – hidden in the bottom section of his travelling bag..
In mitigation Ollivierre’s barrister, Hugh Barton, said: ‘My learned friend spoke of lack of sophistication and I must agree. This was a rather inept attempt at bringing drugs into this country. There was no attempt at subterfuge. They even used their own names in the buying of the plane tickets and didn’t make any attempt to hide what they were doing.
‘There were a number of women talking to Mr Ollivierre, he had many relationships but this was an unfortunate meeting of two like minds would could have caused the bringing of drugs into this country. The was the bottom level of planning and sophistication.
‘He was simply being foolish. He lives a rather flamboyant lifestyle with very little money and this was his way of increasing that money. He didn’t think about the risk. He has been doing this for many years. He is an idiot frankly and he will be dealt with accordingly when he returns to his jurisdiction.’
Mark Monaghan, for Weldrick said: ‘She met Ollivierre in September 2015 whilst working, She has been in the same employment for 11 years and worked her way up to being a restaurant manager.
‘This has been a difficult time, her two daughters are in court today and they have had to listen to everything said at the trial and have to accept their mother is going to prison for a significant period of time. I can only ask for mercy.’
But Judge John Potter said: ‘The agreement you had to import these drugs illustrates your pure greed and selfishness. These drugs had the potential to cause harm to drug users, either experienced or first timers. They could have been extremely dangerous.
‘You flew Andrew McCollin from Barbados to Manchester Airport and paid for his flights and you stuck wraps of cocaine t his body, which was 70% pure. The value of that cocaine was £33,000 and valued at a street level to be £115,200 when bulked up.
‘You were stopped at Manchester Airport and arrested. You Gillian Weldrick went to meet Mr McCollin at the airport but you were arrested and interviewed. In interview you didn’t make clear as to why you were collecting McCollin, only that you were friends.
‘You were released but then brought back once text messages identified you on McCollins phone. It seems You has been sending money to Ollivierre in Barbados through the Western Union bank – a total of £16,400, which was then used to purchase the cocaine.
‘Your plan was to bring these drugs into Huddersfield and essentially sell them onto drug users and buyers. This was all for your own financial gain. This was in the tens of thousands that it could have made for you.
‘Mrs Weldrick, you had sent £15k – £20k cash to Barbados to aid this enterprise. Ollivierre, you were in debt. You would get into sexual relationships with women and persuade them to do something similar but they would catch on and figure out what you were doing.
‘However when you met Gillian you both had the same idea and continued. I understand your relationship has now ended as a result.
‘There was strong evidence against you both and the jury clearly saw through your lies as you tried to argue against your testimonies. You explained that you forgot what your text messages were about.
‘While this was organised, it was very unsophisticated and poorly executed and frankly, if you wanted to get away with it, you did a very poor job. This is an incredibly serious matter and despite it being an inept attempt to import drugs into the UK, this could have had a serious impact on drug users in Huddersfield and surrounding areas.
After the case operations manager Jon Hughes of the National Crime Agency said: ‘In this case the criminals were bringing in cocaine, but once set up smuggling routes can be used to bring in everything from firearms to victims of modern slavery.
‘Bringing to justice those who try to undermine the security of our border is a key part of the NCA’s mission to protect the public from serious and organised crime.’