A mother and son used drug profits from a major York heroin gang to help buy a house near the city, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Coralena Smith, 51, is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for conspiracy to supply drugs.

Her son Nathaniel Joseph Smith, 29, was given a five-year sentence at the same time for a similar offence.

In 2018, Bradford Crown Court heard how Coralena Smith, with her husband and father of Nathaniel, Percy Smith, 51, ran a heroin gang supplying drugs for sale on the streets of York. All three lived on Water Lane caravan site.

Now mother and son have been sentenced for laundering some of the cash they got from drug users through the purchase of a house.

Both Smiths pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transfer criminal property on the day of their trial at Bradford Crown Court earlier this month.

Sentencing the mother, Recorder Anthony Hawks said: “You were the primary mover in this, aggravated further by your behaviour. You involved members of your family.”

He gave her a nine-month prison sentence. He heard that she will continue to serve her 12-year sentence until June 2024.

The son, who has been released from prison after serving his drug dealing sentence, was given a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.

The mother pleaded guilty on the basis that she laundered £4,405, the son on the basis he laundered £11,098.

Barristers for mother and son gave no mitigation after the judge announced the sentences he intended to pass.

A third defendant will be sentenced at a later date because his barrister was too ill to attend the hearing.

It was the mother’s second conviction in relation to cash from the drug dealing.

Bradford Crown Court heard in 2018 how North Yorkshire Police carried out a surveillance operation on the family and during searches in several locations, found and seized a quarter of a kilo of heroin. They also found and seized £67,000 at the home of Coralena Smith’s mother.

Percy, Coralena and Nathaniel Smith were convicted of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, alongside two other defendants at the end of a five-week trial. A sixth defendant pleaded guilty to the same offence on the basis he had only acted as a courier once.

Both the husband and wife were convicted of possessing criminal property in connection with the seized cash.

Judge Robert Bartfield said the wife had taken a leading role in the gang, possibly because the husband had already served a three-year sentence for heroin dealing, imposed in 2012.

He was convinced that the husband had had a role in directing operations, though he had stayed “in the background”.