Mother and son from Greenwich jailed in drugs and gun bust

A mother and son have been jailed for a total of 25 years for their involvement in a drugs and and gun-running gang.

Tracey Cook, 59, of Greenhaven Drive, Greenwich, was jailed for five years, and her son Tony Cook, 38, of The Vista, Greenwich was jailed for 20 years after they were both found guilty of possession of a firearm and Class A drugs, among other charges.

They were jailed alongside Kevin Whelan, 45, from Medway, who was found guilty of conspiracy to supply a Class A drug and Dean Osmon, 38, of Ruxley Close, Bexley, who pleaded guilty to possession of a Class A drug – both were jailed for nine years.

Kevin Whelan and Dean Osman

The court heard that the Cooks were arrested following a four kilogram cocaine drug deal that went wrong after Osman and Whelan were seen by police with a black holdall with four individually wrapped 1kg blocks of cocaine inside.

Police say it had an estimated street value of £320,000 to £400,000.

Whelan ran from the scene but was caught after a foot chase and Tony Cook was seen close by watching the exchange. Osmon and Whelan were arrested and taken to a south London police station.

Minutes later Tracey Cook was seen leaving her house near to the scene with two rucksacks, which she dumped in a nearby park.

Police recovered them and found one rucksack with 447 wraps of cocaine, valued at more than £22,000, and the other rucksack with a revolver, a sawn-off shotgun, a loaded Inglis Browning 9mm automatic pistol and a large quantity of ammunition.

Both Tony and Tracey Cook were then arrested by officers.

A search of Whelan’s house uncovered nearly £20,000 in cash in his loft, which he later claimed was from the sale of a boat and earnings as a painter and decorator.

Drugs, a pistol and money seized from the gang

Detective Inspector Nikki Owen said: “This job is yet another example of the undeniable link between drugs and violence – the fact that Tony Cook was in possession of three firearms, one of them loaded, shows the violent, and potentially lethal, lengths he was willing to go to.

“Thankfully the rucksacks hidden in the park ended up in the hands of the police or this could have had a very different ending.”

The trial judge, Judge Gower, said: “I take the view that Mr Cook played a leading role. He was directing or organising the sale of drugs on a commercial scale and doing so, I have no doubt, in the expectation of substantial financial gain.

“He has to serve his sentence in the knowledge that he is the one who has, as he put it in his letter to me, ‘landed his mother in prison’.”