Drugs hell of jailed mum

Christine Totten was jailed for six years after she was named as the ringleader of a gang of dealers supplying drugs in Sussex.

Her daughter Kelly, 22, of Brighton, told how her mother's life spiralled out of control when she was lured into a world of addiction.

Hove Crown Court heard on Thursday how Totten, 38, had lured the other members of the gang into the Sussex operation by exploiting their addictions and got four of them to sell heroin too.

However, Kelly pleaded with people not to see her mother as evil, saying she sold drugs to fund her own habit while trying to provide as normal a life as possible for her two children.

Kelly said she and her younger brother were devastated by their mother's conviction and she told of the years of tragedy during which their mother turned to drugs after suffering depression.

Kelly said during their younger years their mother had a positive outlook on life, despite enduring a troubled childhood, and warned them of the dangers of drugs.

However, while taking medication for depression, she befriended a circle of people involved in drugs.

It was only a matter of time before she too dabbled in them and became hooked on heroin.

Kelly said the family endured a heartbreaking time watching as their mother's life was ruined by the drug.

She said her mother had been happy working at a greengrocers in the Open Market, Brighton, but her life took a downward turn when a troubled relationship she was in broke down.

Her depression turned her to drink and then drugs.

She said it was her mother's openness to people from all walks of life which ed her to mix with drug addicts.

"My mother was not a snobbish person. Living in Brighton, you do come across people who take drugs. That is just a fact of life.

"She just got in with the clique."

Kelly said the threat of drugs was one of the reasons her mother took the family away from Brighton to live in Haywards Heath.

She said: "She never went near drugs and was always telling all my friends not to.

"She first got involved with the drugs scene because she wanted to help those on drugs.

"I think someone said 'Go on, try this, if you are depressed' and then she began to get hooked and started dealing in drugs. She was never into it in a big way and never sold drugs to people who were not already using drugs. All she was doing was selling drugs to her friends.

"I find it difficult to believe she is now in prison. She has not made money out of this. She is not driving around in a flashy car or anything. All she was doing was funding her own habit after being sucked into a spiral of drug taking.

"I think drugs are disgusting. It broke my heart to see her like that. She just stopped caring about herself.

"She loved us all but let herself go. That is the sad thing.

"We know what she must be feeling inside to just let herself go like that.

"It's never as clear as 'Oh, they are just drug dealers.' She has suffered too. We all have.

"We knew what she was doing was wrong. We didn't want to think about the worst that could happen."

Kelly said the family was shocked when her mother was arrested and charged with drug dealing.

She was horrified when Totten, who admitted supplying crack cocaine, was described as being the ringleader of a drugs gang.

Kelly said her grandmother Doreen collapsed in court through the trauma of the trial.

Totten, who dealt the drugs from her home in Wilmington Way, Haywards Heath, was sent to jail for six years. Craig O'Regan, 29, of Arundel Court, Burgess Hill; Rodney Sparshott, 33, of Bentswood Crescent, Haywards Heath; and Nathan Stern, 27, also of Bentswood Crescent, were each jailed for four years.

David Edwards, 32, of Gower Road, Haywards Heath, received three and a half years while Leon Huggins, 23, of Gypsy Hill, London, was given four years plus an extra six months for committing the drug offences while on licence for a firearms offence.

The gang was arrested after selling drugs to under-cover police officers.