Pro footballer mum turned drug gangster has jewellery and property seized after Manchester Airport arrest

She was known as 'StiffNinja' on Encrochat.

Don't miss out on the big stories from Manchester's courts with our weekly newsletter

We have more newsletters

A young mum and former professional footballer who was found to be an accountant for a £1million drugs gang has had her jewellery and property seized.

Faye Dunn was jailed over her part in this massive drugs conspiracy last year when the gang's activity on EncroChat was revealed. The 39-year-old was ordered to repay what she had gained through this enterprise in a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday (June 8).

Dunn is said to have gained £152,953 from her involvement in organised crime, according to prosecutor Nicola Daley. The ECHO reports that her current available assets stand at £69,747, of which £64,000 is equity in a house in the Huyton area of Liverpool.

Join our WhatsApp Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link

A Peugeot 1007 car worth £1,085 and up to £2,000 worth of jewellery was also included in this. As well as these assets a small sum of cryptocurrency held on the platform Coinbase, a bank accout, a pension fund, and an investment fund must also be handed over.

Dunn has been given just three months by Judge Anil Murray to pay the sum. She will otherwise face an additional eight months in prison in default.

The mum once boasted a portfolio of companies across a range of sectors and had played football for England at youth level. Dunn, then 18, helped her team qualify for the semi-finals of the UEFA European Women's U19 Championship.

After hanging up her boots Dunn set up a community interest company called Onside Sports Academy which aimed to support young footballers released from pro clubs back into employment. This was one of several directorships she would go on to hold, including interests in a legal firm and a recruitment company. Her empire also extended to a restaurant, a popular children's play centre and an epoxy resin flooring business in Spain.

But the mother-of-two's fortunes turned in 2020 when Covid-19 saw the fortunes of her companies falter. Becoming sucked into the criminal underworld, she operated under the handle "StiffNinja" on the encrypted communications platform EncroChat before it was infiltrated by law enforcement.

Messages revealed that she had "involvement in the supply and production of cannabis", being described as an "accountant for an organised criminal enterprise". Dunn also smuggled cash to Spain, boarding a Portsmouth to Santander ferry with money hidden in her trousers.

Ms Daley told the court during her sentencing in September 2022: "She played an operational role within the drugs supply chain but appeared to have significant influence upon others in the chain, facilitating meetings between criminal associates in relation to the supply of controlled drugs, and also instructed others to undertake tasks such as the collection and movement of packages of both drugs and cash. Significantly, she appears to have acted as the accountant for the organised criminal enterprise and has concealed not only her EncroChat device but also cash when travelling abroad in order to evade detection by the authorities."

Dunn, of Walpole Avenue in Whiston, was eventually arrested at Manchester Airport in June last year. She later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis and money laundering.

The fallen entrepreneur - described as "intelligent, resourceful, kind, loving, generous and sadly flawed" - tearfully wailed "I can't believe it" as she was led down to the cells, having been imprisoned for three years and nine months. Sentencing, Judge David Potter said: "It is a tragedy to see a young woman facing a sentence of imprisonment after leading a life full of past and continuing achievements."

For more of today's top stories click here.