The glam molls letting their mob boyfriends run drug empires from their beauty shops in Love Island-inspired crime wave

THE gangster’s moll is no longer just arm candy – for some, the role can be a lucrative business. Driving around in Range Rovers, carrying designer handbags and jetting off on glitzy five-star holidays, these gangsters’ wives and girlfriends certainly appear to be living the dream. But all that glitters is not gold. Samantha Cox, Lee’s girlfriend, drove around in a £50,000 Porsche Macon and splashed out on designer clothes Credit: Cavendish Lee Worthington used his girlfriend’s business Miami Glow as an HQ for his heroin, crack cocaine and ecstasy dealing operation Credit: Cavendish While these women appear business-savvy and successful to the outside world as they post boastful social media posts to make them look like Love Island stars, some are becoming embroiled in a much darker world. Increasingly, women linked to criminal figures are allegedly using their seemingly legitimate businesses to provide the perfect cover for criminal empires. The UK National Crime Agency estimates that at least £1billion in criminal money is laundered through high-street businesses, with hairdressers, barbers and beauty salons among some of the types of businesses identified as potentially vulnerable to money laundering. According to criminologist Alex Iszatt, these relationships are often ordinary at first, with the criminal partner realising the woman’s existing business can be useful for laundering money. And the set-up can become mutually beneficial as the man gets the status of a glamorous partner, while the woman enjoys the perks of a ‘celeb lifestyle’ promoted by reality stars. It’s easy to see why some may crave the lifestyle – actively searching for a partner that can give them an adventure, they may not see the reality that it’s a trap, which some women only escape when they are killed or imprisoned. “And who can blame them when their role models are just as fake?” says Alex. “The Love Islanders with their bought faces and sponsored lifestyles. The reality stars, famous for being famous. The influencers peddling designer dreams with no substance behind them. “These hollow icons have normalised the idea that image is everything – that worth comes from labels and likes rather than character.” One moll seeking a luxury lifestyle was Samantha Cox, a salon owner from Salford, Greater Manchester, who appeared to be the ultimate girl boss. She would drive around in a £50k Porsche Macon, flaunting luxury holidays on Instagram and splashing out on designer clothes. But in reality her beauty business earned as little as £5,000 a year and her lavish lifestyle was actually being funded through a gangland ‘dial-a-drug’ racket. The gangster’s moll allowed her drug baron boyfriend Lee Worthington to use her business, Miami Glow, as a HQ for his heroin, crack cocaine and ecstasy dealing operation. Worthington, 36, was already in jail for ten years for drug dealing, yet used mobile phones from his cell to give out orders to his girlfriend and traffickers on the outside. Addicts would ring a dedicated hotline, then go to an alleyway behind the salon where they would meet one of Cox’s own customers, Joanne Zblewska, who had been recruited to hand out drugs from her bra. Police smashed the racket following a surveillance operation, swooping on Cox’s flat above the shop and seizing thousands of pounds in cash, as well as designer clothes, shoes and luxury furniture and electrical goods worth more than £30,000. Lee used mobile phones from his prison cell to give orders to Samantha and his team of traffickers outside Credit: Cavendish In 2021, Cox was jailed for five years and five months at Manchester Crown Court Credit: Cavendish Cox was arrested in a nearby flat along with a thousand wraps of cocaine and heroin worth £50,000. She was jailed for five years and five months at Manchester Crown Court in 2021 after admitting conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and converting criminal property. Worthington, who admitted converting criminal property, was jailed for a further 41 months. Zblewska, 42, from Salford and Worthington’s brother Stephen, 33, were each jailed for six-and-a-half years after they admitted conspiracy to supply drugs. And Cox’s story is not unique. In the same year, bride-to-be Tiffany Anderson allowed her cocaine dealer fiancé to use her beauty salon as a drugs HQ. Anderson, 28, became book-keeper for Rhys Mason’s criminal racket after he stored the drugs in a safe at her tanning studio. Over a four-month period, the couple swapped texts about deals among their social circle with Mason, also 28, telling Anderson about drug drops. Tiffany Anderson allowed her cocaine dealer fiancé to use her beauty salon as a drugs HQ Credit: Cavendish Rhys Mason was jailed for 27 months after he admitted possession of Class A drugs with intent Credit: Cavendish The couple, who have two young children, were arrested after police raided their family home in Royton near Oldham in Greater Manchester. Cops then searched Anderson’s ‘Tiffany’s Tanning Salon’ premises and found plastic bags, weighing scales, a debtors list and a Gucci handbag stuffed with cash. Appearing in court, Anderson admitted possessing cocaine with intent to supply and was given a 15-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to complete 180 hours unpaid work. Mason was jailed for 27 months after he admitted possession of Class A drugs with intent. Criminologist Alex says there are surprising similarities between the beauty industry and the criminal underground that make them a perfect fit because both are “built around aspiration, image and transformation, where illusion and success become one and the same.” However, Alex says that obviously not all women start up business to cover for a criminal gang – but can find themselves sucked into the dangerously enticing combination of love and the chance to get rich quick. She says: “Not all couples are in it together from the start. “Anyone starting a company has an ambition to see it grow, and if there is an offer for a short term criminal enterprise that will help the business stand on its own, it’s easy to deceive oneself into that mindset, especially if the offer comes from a partner they truly care for and trust. “It can be a slippery slope from being a supportive partner or one that reaps the benefits to an active participant in serious crime. “Emotional and psychological coercion can start small, and the other half may not even realise what they’ve got themselves into. Loyalty, trust and standing by someone you love, can slowly become the very things that pull a person deeper into a criminal world without ever feeling like they’ve crossed a line.” Anderson became a book-keeper for Mason’s criminal racket after he stored the drugs in a safe at her tanning studio Credit: Google Anderson was given 15 months jail suspended for two years and was ordered to complete 180 hours unpaid work Credit: Cavendish However, for some women, there is no question of being fully aware of where the money comes from. Beautician Pamela Coone and her husband John lived in the lap of luxury in Ireland, despite having very modest legitimate incomes. Pamela’s tanning and beauty salon, Riverview Aesthetics and Tanning, reportedly took just £2,000 when it was open. She also relied on social welfare to support herself and her six children, despite jetting off on holidays to Lapland and Santorini and renting a luxury house for the Christmas holidays. The reality was that John was a drug dealer with 47 previous convictions, including for the sale and supply of drugs, and had received 18 custodial sentences. The court heard how John and Pamela had “access to large amounts of money through John utilising the tanning salon and a motor dealership to launder money from the import and sale and supply of drugs.” The case did not result in the couple being jailed. Instead, the Criminal Assets Bureau proceedings culminated in High Court orders ruling that the assets seized were connected to the proceeds of crime. Jamey-Leigh Brook-Parkinson was jailed for three years after running her boyfriend’s cocaine business while he was in prison Credit: MEN Media Jamey-Leigh recruited her mum Wendy to her drug dealing operation Credit: MEN Media There are other women not prepared to give up the luxury lifestyle they have become accustomed to. Alex says some men may be drawn to women who crave attention or a more exciting lifestyle, while some women actively seek partners who can fund their dreams without asking too many questions. When Jamey-Leigh Brook-Parkinson’s boyfriend was jailed, she took over his cocaine empire and knew she had the perfect place to launder the cash – her mum, Wendy Brook’s beautician business. Brook-Parkinson, 27, from Manchester, was eventually caught and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply B drugs. She was jailed for three years, while her mother walked away with a community order.