drug

A BRIT former flight attendant accused of smuggling £1.2 million worth of cannabis today appeared in front of a  Sri Lankan court.

Part-time beautician Charlotte May Lee was arrested last week after cops found two suitcases stuffed with 46kg of synthetic drug kush — which is 25 times more potent than opioid fentanyl.

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If found guilty, South Londoner Charlotte could face a 25-year sentence.

The Brit appeared in front of a court today after languishing in a “hell-hole” prison for days.

Charlotte from Surrey was stopped by Sri Lankan customs officials after stepping off a flight from Thailand on Monday last week.

Speaking from behind bars Charlotte said she had “no idea” that there were drugs in her luggage when she left Bangkok.

She claimed: “I had never seen them before. I didn’t expect it all when they pulled me over at the airport. I thought it was going to be filled with all my stuff.

“I had been in Bangkok the night before and had already packed my clothes because my flight was really early.

“So I left my bags in the hotel room and headed for the night out. As they were already packed I didn’t check them again in the morning.”

The young Brit believes the huge amount of illegal substances were planted in her luggage in a planned move by dangerous dealers in Southeast Asia.

Kush, a highly addictive synthetic drug, has claimed the lives of thousands in West Africa where it first appeared in 2022 – and is spreading globally at an alarming rate.

The dirt-cheap drug is cut with an array of additives including acetone, the opioid tramadol and formalin, a toxic chemical commonly used to preserve bodies in mortuaries.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

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Relatives of five members of the band Fugitivo, aged between 20 and 40, received ransom demands after their abduction.

Drug cartel members are suspected of murdering five Mexican band members, who went missing after being hired to perform a concert in a crime-ridden city in the northeast of the country.

The Diario de Mexico newspaper said on Thursday that the bodies of the five musicians had been discovered after they went missing on Sunday, and nine suspects were arrested in connection with their abduction and killing.

According to authorities, the nine suspects are part of the “Los Metros” faction of the Gulf Cartel, which operates in the city of Reynosa, in Tamaulipas state, near the United States border.

“Law enforcement arrested nine individuals considered likely responsible for the events. They are known to be members of a criminal cell of the Gulf Cartel,” Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios told a news conference.

Tamaulipas is considered one of Mexico’s most dangerous states due to the presence of cartel members involved in drug and migrant trafficking, as well as other crimes, including extortion.

The announcement of the arrests came hours after officials said five bodies had been found in the search for the men, who were members of a local band called Fugitivo.

The musicians were hired to put on a concert on Sunday but arrived to find that the location of their proposed performance was a vacant lot, according to family members who had held a protest urging the authorities to act.

Relatives had reported receiving ransom demands for the musicians, who were aged between 20 and 40 years old.

Mexican musicians have been targeted previously by cartel members amid rivalry, as some receive payment to compose and perform songs that glorify the exploits of gang leaders.

Investigators used video surveillance footage and mobile phone tracking to establish the musicians’ last movements, Barrios said.

Nine firearms and two vehicles were seized, he said.

More than 480,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence and organised crime, and about 120,000 people have gone missing, in Mexico.

Federal prosecutors in the US will not seek the death sentence for Joaquin Guzman Lopez if he is found guilty at trial, court documents show.

Federal prosecutors in the United States said they will not seek the death penalty for the son of Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” if he is found guilty of multiple drug trafficking charges when he goes on trial.

According to media reports, federal prosecutors in Chicago filed a one-sentence notice on May 23, saying they would not seek the death penalty for Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman – the former leader of Mexico’s feared Sinaloa Cartel who is serving a life sentence in a US prison.

The notice did not offer any explanation for the decision by the federal prosecutors, or further details.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 38, was indicted in 2023 along with three of his brothers – known as the “Chapitos”, or little Chapos – on US drug trafficking and money laundering charges after assuming leadership of their father’s drug cartel when “El Chapo” was extradited to the US in 2017.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez’s lawyer said in an email to The Associated Press news agency on Tuesday that he was pleased with the federal prosecutors’ decision, “as it’s the correct one”.

“Joaquin and I are looking forward to resolving the charges against him,” Lichtman said.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez has pleaded not guilty to the five charges of drug trafficking, conspiracy and money laundering against him, one of which carries the maximum sentence of death as it was allegedly carried out on US territory.

He was taken into US custody in a dramatic July 2024 arrest alongside alleged Sinaloa Cartel cofounder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada on a New Mexico airfield.

Zambada has also pleaded not guilty. But his lawyer told the Reuters news agency that he would be willing to plead guilty if prosecutors agreed to spare him the death penalty.

Another of the brothers, Ovidio Guzman, is expected to plead guilty to drug trafficking charges against him at a court hearing in Chicago on July 9, according to court records.

“El Chapo” Guzman is serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado.

A FORMER Met detective who investigated Jay Slater’s disappearance has said his drug dealer “pal” has to come forward and answer key questions from the inquest.

Mark Williams-Thomas – who worked on the Madeleine McCann case – conducted his “own investigation” after the 19-year-old went missing on the island of Tenerife in June last year.

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The inquest into Jay’s death was suddenly adjourned yesterday after his grieving mum Debbie pleased the coroner to summon crucial witnesses – including convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim.

Detective turned TV-sleuth Mr Williams-Thomas said he had been in close contact during the investigation with a number of witnesses – including Jay’s family and friends.

Now he has urged Qassim to come forward and answer questions from the “disappointing” inquest.

Qassim took the 19-year-old Brit back to an Airbnb in Masca the night before he went missing on June 17.

Mr Williams-Thomas called Qassim “the most important witness” who he says gave him “crucial evidence” that “hasn’t been made public” yet.

The ex-detective added that the evidence he received from Qassim in his own investigation provides “greater context” as to why Jay left the villa.

Qassim was previously jailed for nine years in 2015 as the ringleader of a London-based gang dealing heroin and crack cocaine in Cardiff.

He and another Brit previously known only as “Rocky” had rented the Airbnb in the remote Tenerife mountains that they took Jay back to after the festival.

Jay posted a final Snapchat picture of himself smoking on the doorstep of the apartment at 7.30am on June 17 before leaving shortly after.

Qassim has always denied any involvement in Jay’s death.

Jay’s disappearance sparked widespread media interest – as well as a slew of social media conspiracy theories.

One of those theories claimed Jay had stolen a £12,000 watch – which his mum Debbie dismissed as vile rumours.

Josh Forshaw, who met Jay as they boarded a plane from Manchester to Tenerife, said he received a message from the teen before he disappeared.

It read: “Ended up getting thrown out with two Mali kids, just took an AP [luxury watch strap] off somebody and was on the way to sell it.”

Josh told the hearing via video link that Jay said he was planning to sell the strap for “10 quid”, slang for £10,000.

Josh told the hearing he received a Snapchat from Jay later in the night that claimed he “ended up getting thrown out” of the venue with two other people.

He also claimed Jay sent him a photo showing “knives down his trousers” that was captioned “in case it kicks off”.

Josh said he didn’t mention the image to Spanish police before leaving Tenerife, but did inform cops in Lancashire on his return.

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Speaking of Josh’s claim of receiving the knives image, Mr Williams-Thomas says he was told that they weren’t found with him and were left in the apartment.

Apprentice bricklayer Jay travelled to the Spanish island in June to attend the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas with two friends, Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves.

The teen travelled to an Airbnb apartment in Masca with two men including Qassim in the early hours of June 17, before leaving at around 8am.

Jay, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, made a heartbreaking final call to his friend Law saying he had cut his leg, was lost, dehydrated and had just one per cent battery on his phone after he left the Airbnb.

On Wednesday night, Law’s family revealed she was simply on holiday on the very same island where Jay died.

They claimed she was also unaware that she had been called to give evidence at the inquest.

Speaking at the family home in Burnley, Lucy’s stepfather Andy Davis said: “We had no idea Jay’s inquest was even being held today.

“The police have only just been round today to say that she was due to give evidence. But it’s the first time we knew of it.”

He added: “They asked if Lucy was home and I said she was abroad and they asked me if I was aware that she should have been in court, and I said I wasn’t.”

“The police said they had sent Lucy paperwork with the dates on it, but the first I knew about it was when the police turned up earlier today.”

Sources in the Slater family later said they were aware where the other missing witnesses were, and had also been able to find them easily, according to the MailOnline.

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The family source said: “Lucy is in Tenerife. Another supposedly untraceable witness is on holiday in Greece.

“If we can find this out so quickly why can’t the police?”

The court also heard a suggestion that witnesses may be reluctant to appear because drugs may have been involved.

After Jay’s body was found, officials said there were traces of cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine in his body.

Dr Adeley said: “When drugs are involved in a death, the witnesses are less than forthcoming and do not wish to speak to the authorities.”

Jay‘s disappearance and death remain largely cloaked in mystery and it is hoped that glaring gaps in his final movements will be filled after the inquest.

The inquest heard from three construction workers who said, via video link, they saw Jay on the main road through the remote village of Masca and he asked them about bus times.

He was attempting the treacherous 10-hour walk back to his apartment in Los Cristianos when he called Lucy to say he was lost.

DCI Rachel Higson, head of digital media investigations at Lancashire Police, told the hearing today that Jay’s phone recorded “a lot of steps and inclines” between 7.59am and 8.49am.

His mobile last pinged in the mountainous Rural de Teno Park after Jay walked the wrong way from the Airbnb, and DCI Higson said there was “no data recorded” after 8.49:51am.

After a month-long search, Jay’s body was found in a ravine on July 15 last year – near to where his phone last pinged.

A post-mortem examination concluded he died of traumatic head injuries, consistent with a fall from height.

Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd today told the inquest Jay suffered a “heavy fall from height” and the “devastating” effects would have been “immediate”.

Why the inquest farce is more pain for Jay’s family

By Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital)

AS I stood in the sweltering, remote mountains of Masca I was told the news Jay Slater’s loved ones dreaded – his body had been found.

But for his devastated family, it didn’t bring the closure they so desperately needed.

Now almost a year on, his grief-stricken mum, dad and brother have been subjected to yet more torment as an inquest into his death dredged up painful details of his disappearance – while lacking any actual answers.

Jay’s courageous mum Debbie Duncan opened up to me just weeks after his body was found about how she was tortured by not knowing what happened to her beloved son before he fell to his death.

I was humbled by the bravery she showed in the face of living every parent’s worst nightmare on the world stage – relentlessly hounded by mindless trolls.

Spineless witnesses failing to turn up to the hearing to provide crucial information is a kick in the teeth for Debbie and his already suffering family.

The 19-year-old went missing 11 months ago, and his body tragically discovered 29 days later.

So why after all these months has the court failed to bring together vital witnesses – including the two friends he was on holiday with?

After months and months of battling through their grief, the last thing Jay’s family needed was to face a farce of a hearing without the necessary witnesses.

Read more here…

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NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs’ one-time personal assistant testified Wednesday that he was in charge of cleaning up hotel rooms after the hip-hop mogul’s sex marathons — tossing out empty alcohol bottles, baby oil and drugs, tidying pillows and making it look as if nothing had happened.

Implied in the job was that “protecting him and protecting his public image were important to him,” George Kaplan told jurors at Combs’ sex trafficking trial in federal court in Manhattan.

“That’s what I was keen on doing,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan, who worked for Combs from 2013 to 2015, said the Bad Boy Records founder would sometimes summon him to a hotel room to deliver a “medicine kit,” a bag full of prescription pills and over-the-counter pain medications. He said Combs also dispatched him to buy drugs, including MDMA, also known as ecstasy.

Kaplan, 34, was granted immunity to testify after initially telling the court that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Prosecutors contend Combs leaned on employees and used his music and fashion empire to facilitate and cover up his behavior, sometimes making threats to keep them in line and his misconduct hush-hush.

Kaplan testified that Combs threatened his job on a monthly basis, once berating him for buying the wrong size bottled water. Combs’ longtime girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, testified that Kaplan quit after seeing Combs beat her.

Kaplan’s testimony resumes Thursday. He’ll be followed by rapper and actor Kid Cudi.

Cudi, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi, is expected to testify about his brief relationship with Cassie in 2011. Prosecutors say Combs was so upset that he arranged to have Cudi’s convertible firebombed.

Also Wednesday, a federal agent showed jurors two handguns he said were found in a March 2024 raid at Combs’ Miami-area home, along with photos of ammunition and a wooden box marked “Puffy” — one of his nicknames — that the agent said contained psilocybin, MDMA and other drugs.

Investigators also found items prosecutors say were hallmarks of “freak-offs,” including dozens of bottles of baby oil and lubricant, said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Gerard Gannon.

Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos suggested the search — which involved 80 to 90 agents, an armored vehicle smashing the security gate, handcuffed employees and boat patrols — was overkill. Combs’ Los Angeles mansion was also searched.

Gannon confirmed the federal investigation began the day after Cassie filed a lawsuit in November 2023 alleging that Combs abused her for years and involved her in hundreds of “freak-offs” with him and male sex workers. He soon settled for $20 million, she said.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he leveraged his fame and fortune to control Cassie and other people through threats and violence. His lawyers say the evidence reflects domestic violence, not racketeering or sex trafficking.

Jurors also heard from a psychologist who delved into the complexities of abusive relationships. Dawn Hughes explained victims often experience a “low sense of self” and tend to stay with abusers because they yearn for love and compassion they experienced in a relationship’s early “honeymoon phase.”

Hughes also explained how a victim’s memory can sometimes become jumbled — retaining awareness of abuse, but mixing up details. Hughes, who was paid $6,000 by the prosecution to testify, didn’t examine or mention Cassie or Combs, but her testimony paralleled some of what Cassie said she experienced with him.

Cassie testified that she started dating Cudi in late 2011. Although she and Combs broke up, they still engaged in “freak-offs,” she said. It was during such an encounter that Combs looked at her phone and figured out she was seeing Cudi, Cassie said.

Cassie’s mother, Regina Ventura, testified Tuesday that Cassie emailed her in December 2011 that Combs was so angry about the relationship that he planned to release explicit videos of her and have someone hurt Cassie and Cudi. Regina Ventura said she Combs also demanded $20,000. Scared for her daughter’s safety, she said she sent Combs the money, only to have it returned by Combs days later.

Cassie testified that she broke up with Cudi before the end of the year.

“It was just too much,” she said. “Too much danger, too much uncertainty of, like, what could happen if we continued to see each other.”

After Cassie reunited with Combs, he told her that Cudi’s car would be blown up and that he wanted Cudi’s friends there to see it, Cassie said.

Sisak and Neumeister write for the Associated Press. AP reporter Julie Walker contributed to this report.

Former President Biden’s office said Sunday that he has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer and is reviewing treatment options with his doctors.

Biden was having increasing urinary symptoms and was seen last week by doctors who found a prostate nodule. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and the cancer cells have spread to the bone, his office said in a statement.

When caught early, prostate cancer is highly survivable, but it is also the second-leading cause of cancer death in men. About 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed over their lifetime with prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.

Here are some things to know about prostate cancer that has spread.

What is the prostate gland?

The prostate is part of the reproductive system in men. It makes fluid for semen. It’s located below the bladder and it wraps around the urethra, the tube that carries urine and semen out through the penis.

How serious is Biden’s cancer?

Biden’s cancer has spread to the bone, his office said. That makes it more serious than localized or early-stage prostate cancer.

Outcomes have improved in recent decades, and patients can expect to live with metastatic prostate cancer for four or five years, said Dr. Matthew Smith of Massachusetts General Brigham Cancer Center.

“It’s very treatable, but not curable,” Smith said.

What are the treatment options?

Prostate cancer can be treated with drugs that lower levels of hormones in the body or stop them from getting into prostate cancer cells. The drugs can slow down the growth of cancer cells.

“Most men in this situation would be treated with drugs and would not be advised to have either surgery or radiation therapy,” Smith said.

What is a Gleason score?

Prostate cancers are graded for aggressiveness using what’s known as a Gleason score. The scores range from 6 to 10, with 8, 9 and 10 prostate cancers behaving more aggressively. Biden’s office said his score was 9, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive.

Johnson writes for the Associated Press.

THE distraught father of drugs charge teenager Bella Culley has vowed to stand by his daughter – amid new fears Far East drugs gangs are targeting British backpackers.

Bella, 18, is on remand in a grim jail following her arrest in Georgia’s Tbilisi airport with a suitcase of cannabis after going missing 4,000 miles away in Thailand.

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Bella’s flight took off from the same Bangkok airport within hours of another pretty British trafficking suspect arrested with £1.2 million of a cannabis-related drug in Sri Lanka.

Former air stewardess Charlotte May Lee, 21, was in a gruesome Sri Lankan jail cell last night awaiting a court appearance.

Their arrests have sparked fears that Thai gangs may be hoodwinking vulnerable British backpackers into ferrying their drugs after a crackdown on postal trafficking.

Bella was facing at least nine months on remand in a grim Soviet-era jail alongside hardened criminals.

She had joked online of “Bonnie and Clyde” hijinks while showing off cash wads in the Far East and was pictured smoking a spliff.

Bella’s family from Billingham, County Durham are convinced she was preyed upon after flying to the Far East to party with a mystery man feared to have hooked her up with drugs runners.

Her dad Niel – a Vietnam-based oil rig electrician – flew to Tbilisi last week desperate for answers after tearful Bella told a court that she was pregnant.

But he has yet to meet his daughter within the drab confines of No5 Women’s Penitentiary on the outskirts of the Georgian capital and remains baffled by her plight.

Asked about his plans after arriving in Tbilisi, Mr Culley, 49, told The Sun today: “I can’t say anything but I will be here for as long as it takes.

“I obviously have no experience in dealing with situations like this and it’s very difficult.”

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Appearing shaky as he puffed on a cigarette, the anxious dad at one point appeared ready to make a statement when asked how his daughter was bearing up in prison.

But he broke off to confer with Bella’s aunt Kerrie Culley – who is supporting him in Georgia – and returned shaking his head.

He added: “I’m being advised by the British Embassy and can’t comment at the moment.

“But that may change in the future depending on what happens.”

Fears are growing that a Thai drugs gang is preying on British backpackers this summer as Charlotte became the second Brit flying out of Bangkok to be arrested within days.

She was detained at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka on Monday – the day after Bella’s arrest – where police say she had a huge stash of kush – a synthetic strain of cannabis.

Charlotte from Chipstead, Surrey was last night locked in a cell with 20 other prisoners with barely room to lie down as she awaited a court hearing.

Bella took off first from Bangkok on a 20-hour flight via Sharjah in the UAE to Georgia while Charlotte left later on a three-hour direct flight to Sri Lanka.

Both girls departed from the Thai capital during the Royal Ploughing Ceremony weekend – one of the busiest festivals of the year when airports are crammed with tourists.

It is believed to have provided a prime opportunity for traffickers to operate mules – particularly attractive young Britons who arouse less suspicion.

The two arrests follow a huge crackdown on smugglers sending cannabis to the UK by post.

A joint operation by both countries has seen a 90 per cent in reduction in the drug being mailed to Britain since last year.

It suggests Thai gangs may now be reverting to using drug mules to ship their products instead – and targeting British backpackers.

Thailand decriminalised cannabis in 2022 which sparked a massive rise in the narcotic being posted to Britain.

The law change allowed traffickers to hoodwink trippers into believing transporting it was legal.

Thai checks of mail being shipped stopped 1.5 tonnes in the first quarter of this year – a 90 percent drop in the illicit cargo – in a drive which frustrated the gangs.

Some 800 people including 50 British nationals have been arrested in Thailand for attempted smuggling since July 2024 with over nine tonnes of cannabis seized.

Retired Georgian police chief General Jemal Janashia voiced concerns that backpackers were being targeted yesterday.

He said: “The fact that two young British women have taken off with large quantities of drugs from the same airport will interest investigators.

“They will be concerned about the possibility of a link and that Thai gangs may be attempting to recruit vulnerable British travellers.

“After the crackdown on postal drug deliveries, the Thai cartel are seeking new routes and Georgia does look like an attractive middle transit point.

“It’s relatively close, and easy to reach Europe and is visa free to European travellers.”

He added: “I feel sorry for this woman because she was clearly used and manipulated. She’s 18, she’s a foreigner, pregnant.

“All of this indicates that she was chosen deliberately, chosen carefully, she was studied.

“Whoever chose her, they knew what they were doing.”

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JAKE PAUL has a fight with KSI on his Christmas list after sending his bitter rival an offer to fight on December 24.

The bitter YouTube enemies are yet to settle their score in the ring – despite recent attempts to strike a deal behind the scenes.

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Nakisa Bidarian – co-founder of Most Valuable Promoters alongside Paul – revealed an offer to fight on Christmas Eve was sent to KSI.

Bidarian said KSI and Wasserman – who promote Misfits Boxing bouts – have had the contract for 15 days.

A bout over ten rounds, at 192.5lb, in an 18x18ft ring with VADA testing to be promoted by MVP and Wasserman was tabled.

He added that the offer included a 50/50 deal PPV share other but the UK which is 60/40 in KSI’s favour and 60/40 to Paul in the US.

A fan probed Bidarian on why the fight would be staged on Christmas Eve.

He responded: “What are you watching Christmas Eve? Nothing. Jake and KSI will have the entire world’s attention.”

Mams Taylor – KSI’s manager and co-founder of Misfits which homes to celebrity-style crossover bouts – hit back.

Taylor said: “Hey man, we sent you an offer too and you insisted we redline yours.

CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS

“Yours is one sided. Ours is fair and clearly a real attempt to make the fight actually happen.”

Taylor said they countered with a fight in the US, with a coin toss to decide who walks out second.

It would include full drug testing, at 190lb over eight rounds in a 20x 20ft ring, co-promoted down the middle with both to mutually approve all costs.

Taylor added: “Your contract had MVP as lead promoter in charge of everything and you put Wasserman boxing USA as side promoter.

“(FYI Wasserman boxing USA does not exist). You purposely omitted Misfits as an ego based mind game tactic.

“C’mon man. Let’s give the people what they want and not let ego’s get in the way.

We have a duty to our clients and respect due to the fans that made them!!”

KSI, 31, is yet to fought since losing a controversial decision to Tommy Fury, 26, in October 2023.

Jake Paul vs KSI: The terms

Jake Paul’s terms

• 10 rounds
• 192.5lb
• 18x18ft ring
• Full VADA testing
• December 24th
• MVP in association with Wasserman

KSI’s terms

• Fight in USA
• Full VADA testing
• 190lb
• 8 rounds
• 20x20ft ring
• Co-promoted down the middle
• Both promotions to mutually approve all costs and undercard fights etc

He was due to return last August but pulled out with a hand injury before illness saw him withdraw from facing MMA star Dillon Danis, 31, in March.

KSI is now due to have surgery on his busted hand with his boxing career in the air.

Meanwhile Paul, 28, returns against ex-middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, 39, on June 28 in a cruiserweight clash.

It comes after he fought at heavyweight in November to beat Mike Tyson, who controversially came out of retirement aged 58.

Paul now drops back down to the 200lb limit of 14st 4lb while KSI lost to Fury a stone lighter at 183lb.

Their weight disagreement has been the biggest factor standing in the way of the grudge bout.

And Bidarian said: “Not engaging in a back and forth.

“We proposed our terms to Wasserman on April 4th and the offer that followed was those exact terms. Jake Paul wants to fight KSI.

“He does not need to fight KSI. Jake has campaigned at 200+ since December of 2023 and plans to continue at that weight with the intention to contest for a world championship by the end of 2026.”

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A PRISON governor has been jailed over an illicit relationship with a drug gang boss who gifted her a £12,000 Mercedes.

Kerri Pegg was seen as a “rising star” in the Prison Service and quickly rose through the ranks to become governor at HMP Kirkham in Lancashire.

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But her career is now in ruins after she embarked on a relationship with inmate Anthony Saunderson, who was known as Jesse Pinkman after the series Breaking Bad.

Pegg, 42, has now been jailed after she was found guilty of two counts of misconduct in a public office.

One relates to the divorcee’s fling with Saunderson and the second by failing to disclose county court judgements about her debts.

She was also convicted of one count of possessing criminal property, the Mercedes car, from Saunderson.

Preston Crown Court heard Pegg released Saunderson on licence in 2019 despite not having the authority to approve the bid.

After he was granted his freedom, the prisoner used cash from selling 34 kilos of amphetamines to buy Pegg the Mercedes coupe.

On April 6, 2020, Saunderson was sent a message on Encrochat saying “car her for ya bird 12 quid or work” and a photo of the vehicle.

The court was told “12 quid” meant £12,000 and “work” meant drugs.

Saunderson asked “what work they want” and he was told “top or weed” – meaning cocaine or cannabis.

Two days later, he arranged for “17 packs” to be dropped off in Manchester to pay for the car.

The Mercedes was registered in Pegg’s name, with a pal messaging Saunderson: “Where u ya seedy man u and Peggy out floating orrel in the new whip?”

Law enforcement agencies cracked the criminal’s Encrochat and discovered he was involved in drug trafficking on a huge scale.

Saunderson, who was also known to his criminal pals as James Gandolfini -the actor who played Tony Soprano in the mafia TV Series – has now been locked up for 35 years.

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The court was told other messages revealed the “ongoing nature” of his relationship with Pegg.

Police searched her home on November 19, 2020, and found a toothbrush and flip flops containing Saunderson’s DNA.

Officers also discovered a haul of designer clothing and found Pegg was subject to a number of county court judgements for unpaid debts.

Prosecutor Barbara-Louise Webster said: “Her downfall was two-fold, the first, despite having a good income, she lived beyond her means.

“She spent all her income and more, incurring debts and she had county court judgements made against her.

“As a consequence, she became vulnerable and open to exploitation.

“The second was that she became emotionally and personally involved with a serving prisoner, Anthony Saunderson and later accepted an expensive car, a Mercedes C class, which was paid for by him out of his proceeds of criminal activity ie trading in drugs.”

Pegg joined the prison service in 2012 as a graduate entrant and worked at prisons in Risley, Liverpool and Styal.

By April 2018, she was a governor at HMP Kirkham, where Saunderson was serving a lengthy jail term.

He had been locked up in 2014 for his part in importing £19m of cocaine in shipments of corned beef from Argentina.

From the start, there were concerns about Pegg being inappropriately close to prisoners.

It was also noted that she spent a lot of time in her office with Saunderson.

In October 2018, he put in a request to be released on temporary licence.

Despite Pegg not having the authority to green light his release, she intervened and approved his application without notifying the official who should have dealt with the case.

Days later she was moved to another jail, later becoming duty governor at HMP Lancaster Farms.

Saunderson meanwhile was revealed as one of nine gangland figures responsible for producing amphetamines on an industrial, multi-million-pound scale.

The gang made and dealt 2.6 tonnes of amphetamines worth £1million – as well as trafficking heroin, cocaine, cannabis, ketamine, MCAT and diazepam.

Tarryn McCaffrey, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “Kerri Pegg’s conduct fell far short of what might be expected from any professional within the Prison Service, let alone one of such a senior grade as prison governor.

“She was clearly involved in an inappropriate relationship with Saunderson after he was released and the evidence points to this going back further, to a time when he was in jail.

“This relationship, and the fact that Pegg failed to disclose her debts to her employers, amount to a gross breach of trust and are therefore extremely damaging to public confidence.”

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Reporting from Keene, N.H. — On Aug. 28, 1990, Carl Babbitt, in the midst of a cocaine- and alcohol-fueled blackout, killed a man. Almost a quarter-century later to the day, he stood 50 feet from Hillary Rodham Clinton and revealed his past.

“You look at me as a regular person. But I served 11 years in prison,” he began.

As unpredictable as New Hampshire town hall meetings can be for presidential candidates, it was nevertheless a jaw-dropping start to an audience member’s question.

Babbitt, 54, said he was thrown out of his home by his mother as a child and later sexually abused by a foster parent.

“I turned to drugs and alcohol to cover that pain,” he recalled. He would eventually seek treatment but was denied care because he lacked insurance, and six months later stabbed a man to death during a fight. He served 11 of the 15 to 18 years he was sentenced to for manslaughter and was released from prison in 2000.

“I’ve been out clean and sober for 15 years, and I cannot find a full-time job because every time they run a background check, ‘You’re a convicted felon,’” he told Clinton, adding that it is a roadblock that he and many others face.

“What would you suggest we do?” he finally asked.

This wasn’t a standard New Hampshire town hall meeting, and on a day of headlines about her email server and her attacks on Republicans, it was precisely the kind of issue Clinton had come to Keene to address.

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Heroin abuse in particular has been an issue that voters have repeatedly confronted Clinton about on the campaign trail, and on Tuesday, she offered a window into a possible presidential role as convener-in-chief, discussing potential policy specifics and seeking more from a panel of locals with different perspectives on the crisis, including the county sheriff and treatment center and hospital representatives.

The first stop Clinton made this year in the state as a candidate was in Keene. And there for the first time she heard about an issue that had reached almost epidemic status in New Hampshire.

“I have to confess, I was surprised,” Clinton recalled Tuesday. “I did not expect that I would hear about drug abuse and substance abuse and other such challenges everywhere I went.”

Hands shot up throughout the school event room when the audience was asked whether someone’s drug abuse had affected their lives. According to statistics provided by Clinton’s campaign, New Hampshire has the highest per-capita rate of addiction and second-lowest treatment capacity in the nation, with 320 drug-related deaths last year alone.

On Saturday, hundreds attended a candlelight vigil at New Hampshire’s Capitol in Concord to remember victims of drug overdoses. WMUR-TV reported two weeks ago that more than 400 people turned out in Manchester, the state’s largest city, at the first police forum on the heroin abuse crisis in the city.

“We know this is happening, but it’s not yet a big issue” in the campaign, Clinton said as she opened what the campaign called a community forum on substance abuse and opiate addiction. “Some people question why, since I’m running for president, would I be talking in New Hampshire about substance abuse?”

“Really, it’s simple for me. That’s what people talk to me about.”

Since her initial April visit, Clinton’s campaign staff have been holding meetings in the state and online to discuss possible policies she could offer as president to address substance abuse issues.

After the initial discussion, Babbitt, who two years ago earned a degree in drug counseling and now works as the volunteer director for a church’s after-prison ministry program, asked Clinton about how he could get nonprofit status to fund it and whether Pell Grants could be used to help provide education for people in and out of jail.

Clinton cited studies that found those who are educated while in prison had sharply reduced recidivism rates. She said that once people had “paid their debt to society” they should not only have voting rights restored, but be “given a chance to present yourself for jobs, for housing.”

“At the end of the day, people can make their own judgment. But you shouldn’t be automatically disqualified,” she said, referring to a campaign that seeks to remove questions about a criminal record in the early stage of a job application process.

In an interview after the event, Babbitt said prison was the best thing that had happened to him.

“If it weren’t for prison, I’d be dead,” he said.

But the Worcester, Mass., native, who now lives in Keene and said he had never before attended a campaign event, said he hopes Clinton “follows through on her promises.”

“Other candidates should get involved, because it’s not only a community problem, it’s a national problem,” he said. “When they get out, if we don’t help them … they wind up right back in jail, costing us as taxpayers.”

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WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday signed a sweeping executive order setting a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. or face new limits on what the government will pay.

The order calls on the Health and Human Services Department, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to broker new price tags for drugs. If a deal is not reached, a new rule will kick in that will tie the price of what the U.S. pays for medications to lower prices paid by other countries.

“We’re going to equalize,” Trump said during a Monday morning news conference. “We’re all going to pay the same. We’re going to pay what Europe pays.”

It’s unclear what — if any — impact the Republican president’s executive order will have on millions of Americans who have private health insurance. The federal government has the most power to shape the price it pays for drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

The federal government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on prescription drugs, injectables, transfusions and other medications every year through Medicare, which covers nearly 70 million older Americans. Medicaid, meanwhile, covers nearly 80 million poor and disabled people in the United States.

Ahead of the signing, the nation’s leading pharmaceutical lobby on Sunday pushed back against Trump’s plan, calling it a “bad deal” for American patients. Drugmakers have long argued that any threats to their profits could impact the research they do to develop new drugs.

“Importing foreign prices will cut billions of dollars from Medicare with no guarantee that it helps patients or improves their access to medicines,” Stephen J. Ubl, the president and chief executive of PhRMA, said in a statement. “It jeopardizes the hundreds of billions our member companies are planning to invest in America, making us more reliant on China for innovative medicines.”

Trump’s so-called most favored nation approach to Medicare drug pricing has been controversial since he first tried to implement it during his first term. He signed a similar executive order in the final weeks of his first presidential term, calling for the U.S. to only pay a lower price that other countries pay for some drugs — injectables or cancer drugs given through infusions — administered in a doctor’s office.

That narrow executive order faced hurdles, with a court order that blocked the rule from going into effect under President Biden’s administration. The pharmaceutical industry argued that Trump’s 2020 attempt would give foreign governments the “upper hand” in deciding the value of medicines in the United States.

Trump repeatedly defended pharmaceutical companies, instead blaming other countries for the high price Americans pay for drugs, during a wide-ranging speech at the White House on Monday. The president was flanked by Kennedy, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.

He did, however, threaten the companies with federal investigations into their practices and opening up the U.S. drug market to bring in more imported medications from other countries.

“The pharmaceutical companies make most of their profits from America,” Trump said. “That’s not a good thing.”

Trump has played up the announcement, saying it will save taxpayers big money. He boasted in one post that his plan could save “TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS.”

“Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” Trump said in another post ahead of Monday’s announcement.

The White House did not release an analysis of how much money his order would save or which drugs would be affected.

Oz, speaking on Monday, said that he and the agency’s other top leaders would be meeting with drug company executives over the next 30 days to offer new prices on drugs that are based off what other countries pay.

The Health and Human Services Department has the most authority to change the prices of drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid because it can set regulations. Even still, the agency’s power to do so is limited. Congress just approved in 2022 a new law that allows Medicare to negotiate the price it pays for a handful of prescription drugs starting in 2026. Prior to the law, Medicare paid what the drug companies charged. Drug companies unsuccessfully sued over the implementation of the law.

The price that millions of Americans covered by private insurance pay for drugs is even harder for the agency to manipulate.

The U.S. routinely outspends other nations on drug prices, compared with other large and wealthy countries, a problem that has long drawn the ire of both major political parties, but a lasting fix has never cleared Congress.

Trump came into his first term accusing pharmaceutical companies of “getting away with murder” and complaining that other countries whose governments set drug prices were taking advantage of Americans.

On Sunday, Trump took aim at the industry again, writing that the “Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the ‘suckers’ of America, ALONE.”

Referring to drug companies’ powerful lobbying efforts, he said that campaign contributions “can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party.”

“We are going to do the right thing,” he wrote.

Seitz and Kim write for the Associated Press. AP writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.

President makes push to bring down drug prices that have long been a source of financial strain for US patients.

United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that he says will bring down the price of prescription drugs in the US by as much as 90 percent.

In an announcement on Monday, Trump said drug companies who have been “profiteering” will have to bring prices down but laid the blame for high prices primarily on foreign countries.

“We’re going to equalise,” Trump said during a news conference. “We’re all going to pay the same. We’re going to pay what Europe pays.”

People in the US have long been an outlier when it comes to the prices they pay for numerous types of life-saving medication, often paying several times more than their peers in other rich countries for nearly identical drugs.

That phenomenon is often attributed to the substantial economic and political influence that the pharmaceutical industry wields in the US.

The high cost of medical drugs has been a source of popular discontent in the US for years, and Trump accused the pharmaceutical industry of “getting away with murder” in 2017.

But in his remarks on Monday, the US leader also seemed to say that US pharmaceutical companies were not ultimately to blame for the difference in prices. Trump instead framed those high prices in the familiar terms of a trade imbalance with partners such as the European Union and said the US has been “subsidising” lower drug prices in other nations.

That perspective seems to align with the framing of the pharmaceutical industry itself. The industry’s most powerful lobbying arm stated the cause of high prices for US consumers is “foreign countries not paying their fair share”.

Senator Bernie Sanders, a left-wing politician who has railed against the high prices paid by US patients for years, said Trump’s order wrongly blames foreign countries rather than US companies for those prices.

“I agree with President Trump: it is an outrage that the American people pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” Sanders said in a statement.

“But let’s be clear: the problem is not that the price of prescription drugs is too low in Europe and Canada. The problem is that the extraordinarily greedy pharmaceutical industry made over $100bn in profits last year by ripping off the American people.”

A fact sheet shared by the White House said the administration will “communicate price targets to pharmaceutical manufacturers to establish that America, the largest purchaser and funder of prescription drugs in the world, gets the best deal”.

The stock prices of US drugmakers ticked upwards after the announcement. Experts have cast doubt on Trump’s optimistic assertion that drug prices would drop quickly and substantially.

“It really does seem the plan is to ask manufacturers to voluntarily lower their prices to some point which is not known,” Rachel Sachs, a health law expert at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, told The Associated Press news agency.

“If they do not lower their prices to the desired point, HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] shall take other actions with a very long timeline, some of which could potentially, years in the future, lower drug prices.”

May 12 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday night said he will sign an executive order to reduce drug prices in the United States by between 30% and 80% with the aim of equalizing global prices.

No details of the executive order, which Trump said he’d sign Monday morning, were released, and it was not immediately clear how exactly the order would work.

He made the announcement in a post to his Truth Social platform, calling the executive order “one of the most consequential … in our Country’s history.”

“Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%. They will rise throughout the World in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!”

In the statement, Trump said he would be instituting a “MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price.”

He said the executive order would be signed 9 a.m. EDT Monday at the White House.

Trump had tried during his first term to institute a Most Favored Nation policy via executive order to tie U.S. prescription drug prices for Medicare to the world’s cheapest price tags but was met with successful legal challenges from the pharmaceutical industry.

PhRMA, a pharmaceutical trade group, criticized the original version of the plan from Trump’s first term as “bad policy,” stating it will limit seniors’ access to existing medicine and hamper development of new drugs.

Dr. Houman David Hemmati, a California physician and critic of California’ s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, said the policy is “a strong step toward fairness” but does present risks.

On X, he said it could limit patient access to drugs in those countries where the drugs’ prices are cheapest, as drug makers might pull out of those markets. It could also affect development, especially of generic drugs, which could also be pulled from shelves.

“A generic priced very low abroad might disappear if the U.S. demands that price, impacting access to essentials like insulin,” he said, adding that countries reliant on low prices might face drug access issues, and the United States might see delays in new drug launches.

According to a January 2024 report from the Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, the prices across all drugs in the United States were at least 2.78 times higher than in comparison countries and at least 3.22 times as high for brand drugs.

In his Sunday night statement, Trump said that with his new policy, “Our Country will finally be treated fairly and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before.”

He said the United States will save trillions of dollars.

In April, Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to standardize Medicare payments to reduce the price of prescription drugs.