Fife mum jailed after using teen as cocaine courier and child exposed to drugs

A drug-dealing mother who accumulated £200,000 while exploiting a teenage boy as her delivery runner has been sentenced to prison. Elle Taylor, 28, dispatched the youngster to peddle her cocaine up to 20 times daily across Fife. She also neglected a young girl in her care who subsequently ingested the Class A substance. She received a three-year custodial sentence this week after admitting charges relating to proceeds of crime, cocaine supply and wilfully exposing a child in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court last month. At the sentencing hearing, Sheriff John MacRitchie described her crimes as "absolutely horrific". Taylor accumulated £213,163.07 through third-party bank transfers and moved £147,828.47 between accounts and cash withdrawals over the period between September 2019 and September 2025, according to the Courier, reports the Daily Record. She had encountered the 14 year old while on holiday at Seton Sands holiday park the previous year and had maintained contact with him through Facebook. The court was told how the mother persuaded the youngster to distribute the drug on her behalf, with the boy agreeing as she permitted him to reside at her address. In return, she furnished him with food and transferred modest sums of money into his bank account for provisions for both himself and her children, while providing no additional payment for his role in supplying the drugs. Prosecutor Hilland revealed that following an investigation, officers discovered Taylor's involvement in commercial drug supply, as the funds held across her three Bank of Scotland accounts couldn't be explained through legitimate earnings. The court heard that during the period spanning 8 June to 29 August 2025, withdrawals amounting to £1,290 were processed from accounts belonging to the boy. Taylor would receive text messages and social media communications from individuals seeking to purchase cocaine, before dispatching the teenager to complete the transactions. The mother or one of her accomplices would occasionally carry out deliveries themselves. Mr Hilland stated: "He did not receive any profit from the sale of the cocaine, as all sums were transferred to the accused." Taylor's arrest followed a police raid on her Ballingry home on 21 August last year, where officers seized a total of 33 "recognised street deals" of cocaine, including 28 wraps inside an envelope bearing Taylor's name, valued at £1,320 altogether. Officers also confiscated £380 in cash, weighing scales, and Snapchat communications evidencing cocaine distribution. The court additionally learned the young girl had taken cocaine at a property in Fife on 5 and 6 August last year. She was taken urgently to A&E at Victoria Hospital presenting symptoms including sleepiness and being sick, where Taylor informed a doctor she'd departed her home earlier that evening for 30 minutes to visit a shop. She maintained the youngster had been under the supervision of one of her friends, but upon her return, the child appeared ill and the friend was inebriated, having confessed to consuming multiple street valium tablets. The youngster informed a doctor she had discovered a tablet on the ground and ingested it, and medical staff noted she appeared pale, sluggish and displayed dilated pupils, although she remained responsive. She had been sick and experienced "profuse diarrhoea" at the hospital and was kept on the children's ward overnight for continued monitoring before recovering completely, requiring no medical intervention. A later urine test revealed she had an unquantified amount of cocaine and benzoylecgonine, the primary metabolite for the drug. The court also heard the sample additionally contained unquantified amounts of painkiller Tramadol and antidepressant venlafaxine. The fiscal stated: "The presence of any drug in the urine is indicative of ingestion of that drug." Prosecutors accepted Taylor's not guilty plea to a human trafficking allegation relating to the teenage boy, but despite appeals from her solicitor for a community punishment enabling her to remain with her children, she was jailed for three years. Sheriff MacRitchie informed Taylor: "Be under no illusions, this overall sentence is at the very lowest end of what could conceivably be a fair and proportionate disposal. "You have heard the level it could be if one took a slightly different view of sentencing guidelines as a cross check." The sheriff informed her that her lack of previous convictions was "very significant" and the sentence had been reduced to take into account her circumstances, including "the effect on children," domestic abuse she had experienced, her relative youth when the offences occurred, adverse childhood experiences, and her guilty plea.