A key witness in the trial of an Irishman charged with conspiring to export heroin from London to Dublin has denied she was testifying for the prosecution to lessen her sentence for smuggling the drug.
Catherine Brooks (33) of Forest Gate, London, told Snaresbrook Crown Court in London yesterday she would only get a "slight advantage" for giving evidence against the alleged ringleader, Mr Thomas Mullen. Mr Mullen (26), of Etchingham Park Road, Finchley, London, denies conspiring to export heroin. His co-defendant Turhan Mustafa has pleaded guilty to conspiring to export heroin.
Brooks has pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle heroin in 1996. She told the court she made drug runs from London to Dublin for the alleged heroin syndicate. She was arrested on June 12th, 1996, on her way to London City Airport with nearly £150,000 worth of heroin in gift wrap. Police found a further £600,000 worth of heroin in her flat. Brooks pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle the drug on December 6th, 1996, two months before Mr Mullen was arrested with £105,000 on him. He was linked to the drugs conspiracy after police analysed mobile phone calls made to Mustafa.
In Brooks's statement to police later that month, Mr Mullen was implicated as a key player in the conspiracy. Mr Gordon Pringle, defending, accused her of making the statement to help herself.
"You made this statement to the police with a view to becoming a witness in a further trial." She replied: "Yes, yes," but, she added, "I am not doing this to be advantageous to myself. It happened. Which way round it happened I don't remember. I am in a lot of trouble and there is nothing I can do about it. I am telling the truth and I am going to prison. I am in deep shit, deep shit. It is a slight advantage maybe, but this is not what it is all about."
Mr Pringle pointed out discrepancies in her account of meeting Mr Mullen at a hotel on a drugs run in Ireland. "You cannot have met my client on the evening of March 24th, 1996, because my client was in Spain," he said. Brooks admitted to being "confused". She said: "Look, I know the incident happened but the dates have got mixed up." Mr Pringle said: "By Christmas 1995, your [heroin] habit was running at £200 a day. In addition you were also smoking crack coke. This must have left you in a surely permanently altered state of consciousness."
She replied: "My life was out of control. I was taking far too much. I would be asleep for a few good hours. I would overdose sometimes even." Mr Pringle said: "A lot of what you are telling us about happened in 1996 and your memory is fading. I imagine it is fading with the passage of time and you are putting it out of your mind."
She said "I have been in prison for 19 months now. I am waiting for my sentence. I want to put the events out of my mind but can't."
Mr Pringle asked Brooks if she had ever been a drug dealer because she was arrested with scales normally used for weighing drugs. She said she gave free heroin to friends when they were in need. The case continues.