Couple's baby to be born behind bars after both parents jailed (From The Northern Echo)

Couple's baby to be born behind bars after both parents jailed

2:57pm Sunday 6th December 2009 in News By Neil Hunter

A MARRIED couple's fifth child will be born behind bars after both parents were jailed for importing drugs from India.

Heavily-pregnant Claire Bateman and her husband Andrew were locked up for 15 months at Teesside Crown Court.

The mother of the mum-to-be, 51-year-old Hazel Thompson, was spared a prison sentence for her part in the plot.

The sentences come almost four years after the Batemans appeared in court for selling cannabis to schoolchildren.

Claire Bateman was given a suspended prison sentence, and Andrew Bateman was locked up for 21 months.

It was said that the couple sold the drugs to youngsters from the back door of their home in Redcar, east Cleveland.

They had also been in trouble for possessing cocaine, and more recently for not ensuring their children went to school.

The court heard that since their arrest for the importation plot a year ago, the couple had started to turn around their lives.

She had beaten her drug addiction, her barrister said, while he had taken out loans to set up his own catering business.

Lawyers for the newly-weds argued that they should be given suspended sentences to mark the progress they have made.

But Judge Peter Fox, QC, told them that would send the wrong message to others tempted to follow in their footsteps.

He said the previous sentences for the cannabis dealing had failed to deter them, so prison for them both was needed.

Andrew Bateman, 32, hugged his sobbing wife, 29, as they learned their child would be born in prison next month.

Thompson will look after two of the couple's children while the paternal grandparents will care for the other two.

The plot was hatched after the Batemans honeymooned in Goa - a trip paid for by Thompson - in April last year.

Claire Bateman had some dental work done at a fraction of UK prices, and was encouraged to take some cut-price pills.

When the couple returned to the North-East, they began importing diazepam and nitrazepam tablets by the thousands.

The court heard that they used Thompson's home for the deliveries, but she later became suspicious and asked them to stop.

Duncan McReddie, for Thompson, said she went along with the plan because she feared she would be stopped from seeing her grandchildren.

Jonathan Walker, mitigating, said Andrew Bateman was hoping to start a business as a mobile caterer after passing exams.

John Gillette, for Claire Bateman, said she had offered to take drug tests during her pregnancy to prove she was off them.

Thompson, of Woodside, Redcar, and Andrew Bateman, admitted two charges of conspiracy to supply Class C drugs.

Claire Bateman pleaded guilty to the same charges, as well as two of possessing Class C drugs with intent to supply.

Thompson was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with Probation Service supervision.