A former Polish reality television star has been jailed for her role in a huge cocaine supply plot which was blown apart after a kilo of the drug was recovered by police in the Lake District.
Detectives seized the stash from local dealer Reece Barnes, of Elim Grove, Windermere, on his home patch in February 2023.
Officers from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit had already begun a probe. They detained Barnes, 11 other men and a woman, while amassing damning evidence which showed that cocaine was being trafficked by boat from abroad.
It was collected by criminal couriers and stored initially in safe houses before being distributed to towns and cities across the UK for onward supply to street users.
Barnes and 11 other men admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and have already received sentences totalling more than 110 years at Carlisle Crown Court.
Today, the 13th defendant, 30-year-old Magdalena Sadlo, was handed a 14-year prison sentence for her multi-faceted criminal role.
The court heard Sadlo — a former Love Island contestant in Poland during 2021 — was a courier who transported an estimated 280kg of imported cocaine around the country.
Prosecutor Tim Evans said her role then expanded as she acted as the business brain for top table crooks based in the Middle East, painstakingly preparing criminal accounts.
“She not only manages the profits, costs and expenses but also manages the stock levels, updating who has taken what, at what cost, from what batch and the profit margins involved,” said Mr Evans.
“No organised crime group working at this level could operate or function without Magdalena Sadlo, or an equivalent, performing this role.”
Sadlo was enthusiastically, relentlessly efficient in her accounting, suggested the prosecutor, scolding major players when they did not meet her high standards.
Detectives from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit detained Sadlo as she arrived into the UK in February 2024, having flown Emirates first class from Dubai.
She was carrying a £130,000 rose gold Patek Phillipe watch, £30,000 Rolex timepiece with Cartier bracelets and rings, bought with criminal cash, plus a CV boasting her business acumen and qualifications.
Officers also seized mobile phones and laptops containing criminal profit spreadsheets which showed other drugs were being supplied.
They learned from chat logs that Sadlo had the nickname Barbie. In one message, she quipped: “The devil works hard, but Barbie works harder.”
Sadlo, of Ingleton, Bracknell, admitted conspiring to supply cocaine, cannabis and ketamine; and conspiracy to launder money.
She wrote a letter of remorse to the sentencing judge, who learned she had fallen on hard times against the background of drug addiction and was well regarded by family and friends.
Judge Nicholas Barker likened the gang’s overall illegal activity to unrolling a ball of wool around the world, describing it as eye-opening.
