Queen’s Park woman jailed for drug dealing loses appeal bid

A Queen’s Park woman who was jailed for drug dealing has lost her appeal bid to be released from prison so she can care for her disabled girlfriend.

Former addict Amber Muggleton, 23, of The Avenue, was sentenced to two years after she sold MDMA to undercover police officers at the Boomtown festival near Winchester in 2014.

She admitted supplying the drug and possessing it with intent to supply and was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court in August.

Today, Muggleton appealed to top judges, claiming she should now be released to care for her seriously disabled partner.

Her girlfriend described her as ‘her arms, legs, body and brain’, her lawyers told the Court of Appeal.

But Judge Jeremy Carey, sitting with Mr Justice Spencer, said her crimes were too serious to justify allowing her appeal and freeing her.

Lawyers told the court that she had had a troubled childhood, losing her father and coping with a mum with mental health difficulties.

Despite that, she had always been there for her mother and acted as the parent figure to her younger brother.

Her offences had been linked to her own drug abuse - now behind her - since they had been committed to pay debts to dealers.

Although she had struggled with addiction, she had beaten the cocaine habit in a residential placement in Thailand, the court heard.

But while she was away for weeks, her disabled partner had struggled to cope, the judges were told.

Giving judgment, Judge Carey refused to suspend Muggleton’s sentence.

He said: “We conclude that the seriousness of her offending in this case was such that despite the powerful mitigation only immediate custody was justified.

“Nothing sufficiently substantial has been brought to our attention today which could properly allow us to take a different course.”