Mother jailed for using her young daughter as a decoy to smuggle £6m of heroin

A mother of three used her young daughter as a decoy to smuggle £6million worth of heroin into the country in a horsebox.

Tina Banks, 33, hid holdalls stuffed with 132lb of the drug in among her two-year-old daughter's toys in the hope that Customs officers wouldn't find them.

A court heard she used her upmarket horse importing business as a cover for her role in a large drug-running network.

But after returning from a trip to Holland last October she was arrested at King George Dock in Hull when suspicious officers carried out a detailed search of the vehicle.

Banks, who ran an equestrian business in the village of North Rigton near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, admitted acting as a courier and importing the Class A substance.

Sentencing her to 12 years in prison, Recorder Guy Kearle said: 'You attempted to bring into the UK a large amount of heroin that brings misery to peoples lives once it finds its way on to the streets. This offence is so serious only a substantial custodial sentence can be justified.'

Paul Mitchell, prosecuting, said: 'She had an interest in horses and had made a number of previous trips to Holland to buy Friesian horses which are a special interest in this country.'

It is believed Banks, of North Rigton, who used the aliases Katrina Harper and Tina Harper, regularly travelled to and from Holland under the pretence of importing horses for her business.

On this occasion she had purchased three animals - but she had also loaded the horsebox full of the lethal drug, Hull Crown Court was told.

The heroin, in brown packages divided among four large holdalls, was hidden in the living quarters of the horsebox, which Banks had bought only days before.

Hoping her daughter would distract Customs officials to enable her to get through without being checked, she departed for the UK.

But soon after she was asked to pull over in Hull, the multi- million pound haul was discovered and she was arrested. Banks initially accused a fellow equestrian owner of planting the drugs but later admitted that this was a lie, the court heard.

Scroll down for more...

Simon Reevel, defending, described her as a doting mother who, despite her middleclass upbringing, had fallen in with a bad crowd.

When approached by criminal associates from her past she feared for her family's safety unless she did what they asked.

'She thought it was all behind her,' he said.

'With her business, she thought she was able to get on with the rest of her life until she was approached by those from her past and she said she would assist them.'

'She made the wrong decision but hopes you will understand why she came to the decision she did. She said they were menacing to her and her animals and had been seen outside her children's school.'

Banks's children, who are from more than one relationship, are being cared for by relatives, including their grandparents.

Her parents, David and Paula, said they would stand by their daughter and insisted she is innocent despite her guilty plea.

Outside court her father, a farmer, said: 'The family is devastated by Tina's conviction and sentence.

'They believe that she has been the unwitting victim of organised criminals.

'She is a devoted mother to her three children, a much-loved daughter and sister and is missed by all the family.'

A proceeds of crime hearing is due to be held next year.