Brisbane mum Allanah Fay Tydd, 33, jailed after police find meth hidden in sock

A Brisbane mum whose two-year-old has spent the past 10 months living with her in a correctional centre has been jailed after police raided her home and found methamphetamine in a sock.

The Supreme Court in Brisbane. Picture: NCA Newswire / Dan Peled

A mother-of-two has been handed a prison sentence for drug trafficking after police raided her Brisbane home and found methamphetamine in a sock in the laundry.

The woman’s two-year-old child has spent the past 10 months living with her in a Queensland correctional centre after she received special permission.

Allanah Fay Tydd, 33, pleaded guilty to three charges in Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday – trafficking methamphetamine, unlawful supply of cannabis, and possessing a mobile phone used in connection with a crime.

Crown prosecutor Kate Droney told the court Ms Tydd trafficked methamphetamine for almost five months between December 1, 2021 and April 27, 2022.

Ms Tydd’s offending was described as “street level”. She had 12 regular customers and did 47 deals, with the largest being 0.5 grams. Police don’t know how much money she made.

Police were investigating one of her suppliers and those inquiries led detectives to Ms Tydd. Officers raided her home in Inala in Brisbane’s southwest in April 2022 and found various drugs, including methamphetamine in a sock in a laundry basket.

Ms Droney said Ms Tydd had come before the courts seven times since 2015, with the most serious being a 2020 sentencing in Brisbane Supreme Court on five drug offences, including trafficking, for which she received a three-year prison sentence.

“It’s persistent trafficking isn’t it? She’s doing it, so is her partner, to feed their addiction, it’s a similar pattern to the last time she was here,” Judge Martin Burns said during sentencing.

The court heard that Ms Tydd’s partner, the father of her children, is currently in a rehabilitation program. Ms Tydd’s addiction began in 2015 when her father died.

“You fell hard and quickly,” Judge Burns said.

“I think the most serious thing here is the 8 years that you’ve lost and the effect that has had on your children.”

Defence barrister John Jacob, representing Ms Tydd, said she has two children – aged two and 10. The two-year-old will turn three on Wednesday.

“This has been Ms Tydd’s first experience of prison, she has not enjoyed the experience and does not wish to return, but she is grateful it has provided her the opportunity to stop using drugs and improve her prospects of remaining drug-free,” he told the court.

“She describes the experience of withdrawal from methamphetamine has obviously been difficult, but she describes the withdrawal she felt as a result of the separation from her children as being far worse.”

In sentencing, Judge Burns told Ms Tydd upfront that she would be getting a jail term but said he would “keep it to a minimum” because he was impressed by her rehabilitation efforts during her almost 13 months spent in pre-sentence custody.

“You seem to have thrown yourself into completing every program available to you … I’ve read your relapse prevention plans and they are good plans and you want the chance to implement them in the community,” he said.

Judge Burns sentenced Ms Tydd to three years behind bars, but ordered she be eligible for parole in February 2024 after serving six months, taking into account her time already spent behind bars prior to sentencing.