TWO women found with more than £25,000 in drug money have been spared immediate jail terms despite their roles in a cocaine network which landed nearly 60 years imprisonment last week.

At Bristol Crown Court today, Judge Picton drew a line under the criminal proceedings which successfully brought the wide-reaching network to justice.

Following the eight men sentenced last week, Stacey Hayward, 34, of Crays Hill, Billericay, and Amy Brown, 34, of Partridge Road, St Albans, were handed suspended 16-month sentences today.

Police had shadowed dozens of drugs runs in order to trace the input of ringleader Darren Lazarus, who would never touch the drugs himself.

On November 19, Hayward and Brown came to Swindon to collect money from go-between Jordan Packer, with considerable phone contact between all parties, including Lazarus, ending with a meeting in Tesco's car park.

They were found by Wiltshire Police with £25,490 in several bundles on the A419 on November 21, 2013.

Sentencing them for conspiracy to supply class-A drugs, Judge Picton said: “I dealt with the trial and although you weren’t part of the trial, I know well enough from what I learnt in background to understand the sort of influence you would’ve come under from Mr Lazarus.

“Whilst I suspect there was an element of determination on your parts, you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for his determined criminal activities.”

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, said Hayward’s association with Lazarus stretched back to 2005, when it was clear he was a drug dealer and associated with criminal activity.

Upon his release from prison for a separate matter, they restarted their contact and through his bidding she found herself in Swindon on November 19, 2013, along with Brown.

Mr Meeke said: “There were text messages on Miss Brown’s mobile to suggest she had something going on in Swindon and she knew it was illegal, but wasn’t going to do nails all her life.

“It was about the moolah.”

They were socialising in the town across two days, but calls between Hayward and two of Lazarus’s other associates in the network showed they were involved in some way.

Hayward was seen taking a bag from a Mercedes van and putting into their BMW car, after which she called Lazarus to confirm.

There were bags of cash within the larger bag, which was found when officers stopped them on the dual carriageway heading for the M4.

“Ninety minutes later, while they are in custody, there is a desperate flurry of calls from Darren Lazarus to their phones and others, trying to contact them, wondering where the money had gone,” said Mr Meeke.

Their mobile phones were also found to be contaminated with cocaine.

Mr Meeke revealed Hayward had previous convictions for shoplifting, fraud and failing to provide a specimen under suspicion of drink driving.

Brown had been convicted for deception in her past too.

On top of the 16-month prison sentences, suspended for 12 months, Judge Picton ordered them to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work each, within the next year.

The judge also took time to praise the diligent work of the police officers involved in bringing this case to court.

He named criminal investigator Lucy Lockey, DC Megan Kenzie, DC Philip Hines and telephone analysts Stephen Bonsal and Martin Bell.

“This was an immensely successful, detailed and complicated investigation that was carried out immense skill and determination by investigating officers, both police and civilian,” he said.

“They should all be congratulated and commended for serving the community so very well.”