A BROTHER and sister who helped run a narcotics network from a Huddersfield cafe have failed to convince the Appeal Court that their sentences were too harsh.

Michael Fitzroy Daley, 37, and Karen Renita Daley, 38, were key figures in a conspiracy to supply drugs around England, the court in London heard, with Michael Daley making numerous trips to Holland to organise shipments.

The pair ran Daley’s Cafe in Alder Street, Fartown, and lived at the same address in Dolfin Place, Bradley.

They were prosecuted after detectives found an array of drugs paraphernalia in a flat above the cafe.

Police also picked up an incriminating “notebook” in which Karen Daley had written details about the supply operation, including profit forecasts and contacts.

Michael Daley was arrested after undercover officers monitored him while he was involved in a £24,000 drugs transaction, said Mr Justice Penry-Davey, who added that he was clearly involved in a large-scale operation.

Michael Daley was jailed for 14 years at Leeds Crown Court last May after he was convicted of conspiring to supply Class A drugs.

His sister was given nine years after she was found guilty of the same offence.

Mr Justice Penry-Davey, sitting with Lord Justice Latham and Mr Justice Foskett, said Michael Daley played a key role in organising the drugs supply network, while his sister was the effective book-keeper.

A third person, Paul Newmarsh, 39, of Foxholes Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, was given four years after he was convicted of money laundering.

He was prosecuted after police found over £46,000 at his home. The prosecution said the cash was linked to drug trafficking.

The trio’s cases reached court yesterday as the Daleys unsuccessfully challenged their sentences.

Newmarsh appealed against both his conviction and sentence, also without success.

Mr Justice Penry-Davey rejected claims that the case against Newmarsh was too weak to leave to a jury, dismissing his application for permission to appeal.

The judge said the sentences passed on all three, although severe, were “neither wrong in principle nor manifestly excessive”.