The fall of the Gamos; Vicki Kellaway on how the law is catching up with wives of the rich and infamous.

Byline: Vicki Kellaway

WE'VE all seen her, whether we recognise her or not - dripping with jewels and sporting a tropical tan to match her expensive designer handbag.

The Gangsters' Moll - or Gamo - strutting around the streets of Merseyside.

They are the wives or girlfriends of gangsters, easy to spot with their ostentatious status symbols and unmistakable glow of an untouchable.

Until now.

The law is finally catching up with the women who benefit from crime - mostly drugs - even though they live entirely apart from their partners' shady deals.

The courts accept Gamos are not gangsters and for the most part see nothing of the trade that generates their wealth.

But splashing their husband's dirty cash on clothes, gems, handbags and holidays means they are money laundering and therefore, they're risking prison.

Sara Shea is one such cautionary tale. A slim, smartly-dressed Wallasey woman with a fairytale wedding and luxurious life littered with fancy cars, holidays and fabulous handbags.

She is now languishing in jail - her posh meals at Claridges swapped for the slop served in the prison canteen.

Shea was jailed for two-and-a-half years for blowing pounds 104,000 of her husband Keith's cash, even though the court accepted she had nothing to do with his plot to flood the streets with cocaine.

Her crime was to spend her husband's money, enjoy his lavish gifts and not think too hard about the source of his fortune.

Now friends of the 30-year-old brunette are warning other women not to fall into the same trap.

One shocked pal said: "None of us could believe it when Sara went to prison. She just said goodbye to the girls at work and went off to Liverpool crown court in her lunch break. Everyone expected her to come back.

"She seemed just like a normal girl with a normal job - managing the nail salon in Debenhams where she was liked and respected.

"She's in prison now because she spent his money and enjoyed the things most women do - holidays, handbags and shoes.

"I don't think enough women realise it is a crime to meet a rich man and fall in love - and stay with him even if you start to suspect all is not right with the way he gets his money." Shea always claimed she had no knowledge her husband was a drugs lord, but the pair were caught carrying more than pounds 4,000 each through John Lennon airport.

They never tried to reclaim it and she later admitted she had some suspicions.

Shea reportedly told his wife he earned his money running carpet cleaning and car dealing businesses but police suspect they were instead used to launder his drugs cash.

Both were shut down when the university-educated drugs lord was arrested. He was jailed for 15 years in 2007.

Sara Shea, who admitted 11 money laundering charges, has lodged an appeal against her sentence and her family and friends believe she was used as an example.

Judge David Harris QC said she had "undoubted qualities" but told her: "You chose to turn a blind eye, to ask no questions and to shelter yourself from developing certain knowledge about the nature of his activity.

"There are other partners who may be in this position. The message has to go out that, if they meddle in the proceeds of crime, particularly drug crime, there will be serious repercussions." The Gamos have received support from an unlikely quarter.

A county judge spoke on their behalf when he considered another Merseyside case - that of Linda Prescott.

Prescott fought a housing authority application to evict her from her home in Deepfield Drive, Huyton after her husband Paul was jailed for plotting to flood Britain with amphetamines.

The mother-of-one was never convicted of a criminal offence but the authority claimed she benefited from luxuries he purchased and therefore broke her tenancy agreement.

Judge Macmillan at St Helens

County Court threw out their case.

He said there was no suggestion Prescott was involved in her husband's plot even though she may have benefited from his crimes with holidays, furniture, jewellery and clothes.

He said: "Down the ages, since Bill Sykes and Dick Turpin, partners of criminals - highwaymen, robbers and drug dealers - have benefited from their husband's lifestyle.

"The alternative to enjoying the proceeds, directly or indirectly, is to what? To divorce the man who she loves and is the father of her children. I think not." But a High Court judge overturned his verdict on appeal, saying Judge Macmillan had "erred in principle" and the housing authority had a right to keep its estate free from the activities of people like Paul Prescott and could therefore evict his family.

For Gamos at least, the high life is over..

CAPTION(S):

JAILED: Sara Shea leaves Liverpool Crown Court during her trial. She was imprisoned for two and a half years BLING RINGS: Keith and Sara Shea's wedding and engagement rings GLAMOROUS LIFE: The wedding of Keith and Sara Shea