Cannabis couple Darren and Debra Wright turned to crime after death of two of their three daughters

A COUPLE who lost two of their three daughters in tragic circumstances are facing jail after admitting producing drugs.

Police said Darren and Debra Wright, formerly of Canterbury Road, Herne Bay, were the ring-leaders of a multi-million pound drugs production network, with factories in Ashford, Dover, Whitstable and Herne Bay.

They fled to Spain after police raided two of the sites last year, but were extradited after detectives tracked them down. The pair admitted their part in the crime at Maidstone Crown Court today and will be sentenced on July 25.

The Wrights gained national media coverage in 2003 after launching a fundraising campaign for daughter Chloe, then three, who was battling a rare form of soft tissue cancer.

After doctors at Great Ormond Street children's hospital said there was no more they could do, they remortgaged their house in Herne Bay and raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to pay for experimental treatment in America.

The family - including Chloe's sisters Ella and Kerry, then five and seven - travelled to Texas in September 2003 where Chloe underwent several courses of chemotherapy and started a clinical trial of a new drug.

She also faced surgery to remove tumours but returned to the UK in June 2004, aged four, after the cancer spread, and died a month later.

At the time, her father said: "We always said we knew what might happen but to know that you haven't done everything possible - it's going to come back and haunt you all through life and we didn't want that to happen."

Chloe's sister Ella died in October 2007 after contracting MRSA, leaving only Kerry, now 17.

Now her parents, aged 47 and 48, are facing long jail sentences and police said the case proved criminals could not escape justice.

Detective Constable Donna Hopper, who led the investigation with colleague David Godden, said: "It is estimated that the potential income from these factories was within the region of £4m with some of the factories containing around 2,000 plants. It was a sophisticated set up managed by Vietnamese illegal immigrants who had to live in cramped and dangerous conditions.

"Evidence of the Wright's involvement came as a result of extensive enquiries following the discovery of a number of individual factories. We were able to link the factories to a John Read who was imprisoned for 10-years in 2011 for three of those finds.

"With the discovery of two more cannabis houses in Herne Bay in 2012 the net tightened on the Wrights and they fled to Spain. It transpired they owned property there and by working with the Spanish Police we were able to locate them and extradite them back to the UK.

"Our message is simple; we will relentlessly pursue those who try to evade justice. There is no escape, we work closely with forces in other countries and will leave no stone unturned to ensure that those responsible for criminal activity are held to account."

The pair's admissions bring the number of people convicted for the cannabis operation to 13.

http://www.canterburytimes.co.uk 03/07/2013