Drugs ring Wednesbury care worker jailed for eight-and-a-half years

Tanya Mangal, from Wednesbury, worked for private home-help provider Passion4Care in Birmingham.

But behind the facade of a compassionate and respectable health worker she was running an extensive drugs ring receiving thousands of calls a week from clients on her 'drugs hotline'.

Police discovered the 33-year-old mother-of-two, who used the dealer pseudonym 'Niki', had supplied heroin and crack cocaine between November 9 2012 and February 28 last year.

During the 110-day period she is estimated to have made up to £100,000 in drug deals.

And when officers examined time-sheets at the offices of the care company, in Slade Road, Erdington they found she had regularly struck drug deals while claiming to be caring for clients, including mental health and dementia patients.

Mangal, of Bilston Road, denied conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine but was found guilty by a jury.

She was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court today.

The court also heard she had used fellow home-help nurse Leanne Giles, from Brightstone Road in Frankley, as a drugs runner, whilst Giles' next-door neighbours Karminder Fenwick and her boyfriend Darren Shale were also dispatched to deliver drugs.

Giles, 32, Fenwick, 41, and 39-year-old Darren Shale all admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine and were jailed for three years and four months, three years, and two years respectively.

South Birmingham Police Superintendent Alan Simmonds, said Mangal was 'undoubtedly the orchestrator' of the network.

"She took all the calls herself under the name Niki. We estimate she received or made around 95,000 drugs calls over a four-and-a-half month period.

"She was in a position of trust, someone employed to look after vulnerable people with mental and physical disabilities, but behind that respectable façade she was fuelling crime and ruining people's lives by peddling drugs.

"All four were picked up as part of a wider initiative, Operation Intrusive, combating serious acquisitive crime and drug supply in south Birmingham last summer."

Police first identified a £20 drugs drop in St Heliers Road, Northfield, on November 9 when Fenwick was seen supplying two wraps of heroin having been dispatched by Mangal.

More deals were struck throughout the winter with drugs delivered by Fenwick, Giles or Shale initially to locations in Holly Hill Road, Frankley, and nearby Brightstone Road.

During one deal Giles, who was found to have no professional care qualifications, spat out wraps of heroin and crack cocaine that she'd concealed under her tongue.

Forensics checks on the drugs found them to be as little as 20 per cent pure and analysis on greaseproof paper packaging returned DNA hits pointing to Mangal as the drugs cutter.

Police searched all three addresses during co-ordinated raids on the morning of 13 June last year and recovered several phones, a client list of phone numbers, several drug wraps and paraphernalia including digital weighing scales.

Supt Simmonds urged anyone who suspects drug dealing in their neighbourhood to call West Midlands Police on the 101 number.

He said: "We take all reports of drugs dealing seriously and information from the public is crucial in building up an intelligence picture of who is behind the supply.

"The community repeatedly tell us they want us to tackle drug dealing as a priority as it attracts an undesirable element and fuels crime. The raft of arrests in south Birmingham last summer shows we will take strong action to remove offenders and protect communities."