A former professional footballer and successful businesswoman’s secret life as an accountant for a £1million drugs gang was exposed after police swooped to arrest her at an airport.
Faye Dunn once boasted a portfolio of companies across a range of sectors, but now the young mum is serving a prison stretch of nearly four years.
The 38-year-old’s sporting career alone would be the envy of many. One highlight of her time in football came 20 years ago as a promising teenager playing for England at youth level
Dunn, then 18, helped her team qualify for the semi-finals of the UEFA European Women’s U19 Championship. She netted goals during two of the Lionesses’ group games during the tournament, against Denmark and Switzerland.
The box-to-box midfielder turned out for Tranmere Rovers before joining Leeds United in 2003. One documented appearance for the former came after she bagged a hattrick against Southampton in November 2000, although Dunn was sent off while facing Doncaster Belles in March 2002.
She was later interviewed by Leeds ahead of a game with her former side. She said of the upcoming clash: “I enjoyed my time at Tranmere and always look out for their results, but I am a Leeds player now and we will all be going out determined to try to get three points for Leeds United Ladies.”
After hanging up her boots, Dunn – a well-known figure in the Huyton area – would give back by setting up Onside Sports Academy. The aim of the community interest company was to support young footballers whose dreams of playing professionally had been shattered after being released by clubs, ensuring that they secure gainful employment rather than going off the rails.
This was one of several directorships she would go on to hold. Companies House lists interests in a legal firm and a recruitment company.
Her business empire also extended to a restaurant and a popular children’s play centre. Over in Spain, her epoxy resin flooring supply business showed some promise.
But the mother-of-two’s fortunes turned in 2020. Covid-19, lockdowns and their consequences saw her businesses falter. Liverpool Crown Court heard that this was the catalyst for Dunn becoming involved in the criminal underworld, although evidence pointed to her money laundering exploits beginning in December 2019.
She operated under the handle StiffNinja on the encrypted communications platform EncroChat, which was commonly deployed by criminals in keeping their dealings secret until the network was hacked by the authorities in 2020. Messages revealed that she had “involvement in the supply and production of cannabis”, being described as an “accountant for an organised criminal enterprise” who had also smuggled cash to Spain – boarding a Portsmouth to Santander ferry with money hidden in her trousers.
Nicola Daley, prosecuting, said: “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 this year as part of Operation Venetic. She remained silent under interview but later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cannabis and money laundering.
The fallen entrepreneur was seen to be in tears at various points during her sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court in September. “Intelligent, resourceful, kind, loving, generous and sadly flawed” Dunn wailed and said “I can’t believe it” as she was led down to the cells, having been jailed 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. You should have been thinking about your two young children when you became involved in serious organised crime.”
