POLICE have hit out at a Southampton couple who 'fuelled their lavish lifestyle through drug dealing'.

Amy Willard, 28, and Amran Ahmed, 31, had £14,000 of luxury items including Monclear jackets, Louboutin shoes, Louis Vuitton belts and bags, gold jewellery and a Rolex watch at their address.

Ahmed was referred to as ‘Blanco the barber’ by his customers and asked them to review his drugs like Trip Advisor, say police.

PC Chael Essery, who led the investigation into the couple, said they were able to fuel their "flashy" lifestyle through the dealing of cocaine.

Ahmed, of St Denys Road, Southampton, and Willard, of Shakespeare Drive, Totton, appeared at Southampton Crown Court on Thursday, June 16.

It comes after a hire vehicle was stopped by police on the drive of Ahmed’s address at the time in Winchester Road, Southampton, on July 27, 2020.

Ahmed, who was in the vehicle, and Willard - who had just got out and was stood next to another red car on the drive - were both searched and their mobile phones were seized.

A bag of white powder found under the red car was tested and was found to contain cocaine worth £3,000.

A search was carried out at the pair's homes and £14,000 of luxury items were seized.

The seized mobile phones were examined and a large volume of messages were found in connection with the supply of cocaine.

Examination of their bank accounts revealed that Ahmed had declared no income to HMRC since the 2017/18 tax year and Willard did not have a declared income.

Despite this, there were transactions of thousands of pounds in their accounts.

This included £68,492 being paid into Ahmed’s account between January 2019 and August 2020 and Willard sending him £41,649 between September 13, 2019, and November 20, 2020.

Judge Forster said that Willard had allowed herself to be used by her partner having previously been someone of good character.

He jailed Ahmed for a total of five years.

Meanwhile, Willard, a university worker, was jailed for two years, however, the sentence was suspended for two years.

She was also ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work.

PC Essery said: “Ahmed and Willard lived a lavish lifestyle funded by the proceeds of dealing cocaine.

“But they now face a much less luxurious future as a consequence of their crimes.

“There is a grim reality lurking beneath this flashy exterior: a world of organised crime, serious violence, exploitation of vulnerable adults whose homes are taken over by drug gangs and young children who are forced to run these drugs.

“We hope this sentence shows our commitment to rooting out offenders and making sure they face justice, disrupting the supply of drugs which cause serious harm to our communities and making Southampton a safer place to live.”