Couple ran their drug business 'under the cover' of hair and beauty salon in Sheffield neighbourhood

Dean Hassan and Jenna McGarry were in a relationship when police uncovered their drug ‘distribution centre’ which was being run from a salon in Manor, Sheffield.

The building where the salon was based is owned by Hassan, prosecutor, Stephanie Hollis, told Sheffield Crown Court in a hearing which began on Thursday, February 27, 2025.

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told the pair: “You Hassan owned a shop. It was being used as a really low level [drug] distribution centre…under the cover of a salon’.

Police executed a warrant at the salon in January 2023, and found around £7,000 of Class B and Class C drugs along with two sets of scales.

Among the Class B substances recovered by officers were amounts of cannabis, along with sweets containing THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the mood-altering ingredient from cannabis, the court heard.

Tablets of benzodiazepines, which can be prescribed legally but are treated as Class C drugs when sold by street dealers, were also recovered from the premises.

Ms Hollis said stolen clothing with tags on it from shops including Next, M&S and Primark, and upon his arrest, Hassan replied: “I buy stuff from people, I don’t ever question if it’s stolen or anything.”

Hassan, aged 46, also told officers they would find a small amount of cocaine at his home address, the court heard.

Police also seized the defendants’ mobile phones, and Ms Hollis said McGarry, aged 39, was found to have stored a number of clients’ names with their Christian name, followed by ‘bud’ in her phone.

Ms Hollis said messages on McGarry’s phone also reveal she was discussing amounts of several hundred pounds owed.

“There was a cash-flow issue for the user of that phone…clearly, The Crown say, they were working together to supply drugs to a small amount of people,” continued Ms Hollis.

Investigations into the stolen clothes recovered from the salon revealed they had been stolen from stores in a variety of locations including Macclesfield, Leeds and Newark, and had an estimated value of around £150.50.

McGarry’s involvement in the operation was said to be limited to the sale of Class B drugs, and she pleaded guilty to a charge of being concerned in the supply of the Class B drug, cannabis, at an earlier hearing.

Hassan, of Glenholme Way, Stradbroke, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of Class B drugs, possession of Class C drugs with intent to supply, and handling stolen good at an earlier hearing.

Mitigation for Hassan and McGarry, of Woodrove Close, Manor, Sheffield, was heard during the resumed sentencing hearing on March 3, 2025.

Zaiban Alam, representing McGarry, disagreed with the suggestion that McGarry was working at the salon, and suggested her regular presence at the salon was down to her being in a relationship with Hassan at the time.

Ms Alam continued by saying that while McGarry does admit to selling cannabis on, it was to a small group of users, of around nine people.

“Because the users were already established users, she saw little harm in it. She bitterly regrets that, and now considers herself to be the world’s biggest fool,” continued Ms Alam.

Ms Alam told the court that McGarry is a mother to two children, and shoulders all of the caring responsibilities for them after losing her partner four years ago. Ms Alam also referred Judge Richardson to reports prepared for the court, which detail McGarry’s mental health difficulties.

Richard Adams, defending Hassan, said he has endured ‘debilitating’ depression and anxiety for around 20 years, affecting ‘all aspects’ of his relationships and work as a plasterer.

Mr Adams said Hassan began ‘self-medicating’ with benzodiazepines procured from third parties after the levels prescribed no longer helped him, after building up debts, both through his drug use and from his plastering business, he fell into drug supply.

Sentencing the pair,Judge Richardson said ‘people who peddle drugs of any kind are usually sent to prison’.

He noted, however, that both defendants are of good character with clean criminal records prior to these matters; and given their mitigation, said it was a ‘tragedy’ that they should both find themselves in the dock of a Crown Court.

Judge Richardson said he believed both defendants to have mitigation of ‘some potency,’ and due to their prospect of rehabilitation, felt able to hand them suspended sentences.

Hassan received a sentence of 18 months’ custody, suspended for two years, with conditions including a six-month alcohol treatment requirement, along with 30 sessions of a rehabilitation activity requirement.

McGarry was sentenced to nine months’ custody, suspended for 18 months, along with a 12-month mental health treatment requirement and 20 sessions as part of a rehabilitation activity requirement.