A WOMAN arrested in Belfast after going on the run for two years to avoid sentencing for drug-related offences has been jailed.
Emily MacArthur, 34, of no fixed address, failed to appear at Swindon Crown Court in April 2022 having pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply controlled drugs into prisons and importing cocaine from Jamaica.
Having used various aliases to move around and evade capture, MacArthur was finally arrested in Belfast in June 2024 and had been remanded in custody since.
At Swindon Crown Court on Friday, she was jailed for 13 years and 11 months for her previous guilty pleas as well as three counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs (crack cocaine and heroin), possession of criminal property and failure to attend court.
"MacArthur thought nothing of exploiting both young people as 'runners' and vulnerable women to smuggle drugs into prison — it was all just about money and bettering her lifestyle," said DC Williams from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU).
Fake legal letters
In January 2020, Border Force officers stopped three separate parcels sent from Jamaica, which were addressed to MacArthur at flats in Frome and Bristol.
They were found to contain cocaine concealed inside shipments of seasonings, with a street value of more than £130,000.
The Metropolitan Police were also looking into MacArthur in connection with the supply of spice into prisons.
A search of her home address in Trowbridge in February 2020 uncovered spice being produced in substantial quantities.
MacAuthur and her former partner and co-conspirator, Dennis Obasi, were producing bogus R39 legal letters coated with spice and marked using fake stamps to send to prison.
R39 letters are confidential and cannot be opened by prison staff unless there is good reason.
During the search, officers seized £50,000 worth of spice powder, 116 sheets of paper soaked in spice — worth £48,000 or more in prison — and seven fake R39 stamps.
Between February 2019 and March 2020 at least 40 fake R39 letters infused with spice were recovered from 11 prisons in England.
Each package would contain between 25 and 50 sheets of infused paper, which would be cut into stamp-sized pieces and sold.
The pair were also sending spice into prisons concealed inside prisoner property boxes.
New car and nicer house
Following the pair's release under investigation, they continued their illegal activities.
In April 2020, police stopped MacArthur and Obasi in a car in Trowbridge where they were found with £500 in cash and a knife.
A search of MacArthur's flat revealed a further £6,000 in cash along with a wraps of heroin and crack cocaine.
Later the same year, they were arrested by Thames Valley Police in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, having been seen dropping off two teenagers at an address belonging to a vulnerable man.
Inside the address were two packages containing wraps of heroin and crack cocaine.
Obasi was found to have bought at least one of the teenagers a train ticket from London to Bristol, while the older teenager had previously visited a flat in Bristol rented by MacArthur.
Among the thousands of text messages sent between MacArthur and Obasi, she openly talked about 'moving to hard food' — referring to cocaine — as she needed £23k for a car and wanted to live in a nicer house.
MacArthur failed to appear for sentencing in April 2022 but was eventually tracked down in Northern Ireland more than two years later.
'Justice was done'
DC Williams expressed his satisfaction at finally seeing MacArthur behind bars.
"She's tried hard over the past few years to avoid being caught but now it's her turn to face justice for the harm she's caused," said DC Williams.
"Despite the challenges posed by her many false identities and fleeing to Northern Ireland, we've persevered to ensure justice was done.
"Spice is widely reported as being one of the most destabilising and dangerous drugs within prisons as the effects on the user present an enormous risk to the safety of prison staff and inmates."
Obasi was sentenced to 11 years and seven months at Swindon Crown Court back in November 2022.
