White mischief?
Life after prison , Issue 1640 READY4HOME offers much-needed supported housing to some of the most vulnerable adults in the North-west, including street homeless, forces veterans, care leavers and newly released offenders. Company accounts show it took in nearly £2.5m in the year to July 2023 as it helped people with issues such as mental health struggles and addiction.

Some of those people may be surprised to know who is behind the organisation.

Its chief executive officer is Paula White, former mastermind of a multimillion-pound international synthetic narcotics empire that killed one person and left others in hospital. Welfare director Netta Hymanson was her partner in life and crime. Both were jailed in 2015 for manufacturing and supplying the drugs to thousands of customers around the world, White for nine years.

Under UK law, there is nothing to stop anyone with convictions setting up a business. Employees applying for a job working with vulnerable adults are routinely subjected to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check, which would have revealed their shady past.

But as directors they are able to oversee the rehabilitation of some of the very people who may once have been their customers.

White said: "Because of my time in prison, I was aware of the total lack of support for people in the prison system. The focus for Ready4Home is to provide a support mechanism for vulnerable people in society, people who have fallen on hard times, not just within the prison system but in other areas where help is needed. Ready4Home has housed and supported over 2,000 people in the last four years.”

The company saw turnover increase from £750,000 in 2021-22 to £2.5m in 2022-23. Profits must be ploughed back in as it is a community interest company, but directors can pay themselves a reasonable salary.

Hidden pathways
The company's website and accounts claimed: "We currently have an Information Sharing Agreement with HMPPS [HM Prison and Probation Service] for Greater Manchester and the Lancashire area. Our main referral pathway comes from NHS, Walking With The Wounded, HM Prisons, NPS [the Probation Service], Approved Premises, local authorities, and other referring agencies.”

However, when the Eye contacted the NHS, the Walking with the Wounded veterans charity, Manchester council, NHS England, His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service and the Ministry of Justice, none had ever heard of the company or worked with it.

A Lancashire county council spokesperson said: "Our Leaving Care Service made a one-off payment of £86.67 in October last year [2023] to pay a service charge to prevent a care leaver from becoming homeless. This was a one-off payment and we have no ongoing dealings with this company. We are wholeheartedly committed to safeguarding when supporting vulnerable young people.”

A spokesperson for Ingeus, contracted to help resettle prisoners in the region, said: "Ready4Home is no longer listed on our directory of local services. It is our priority to safeguard our service users and our people, and the robust policies and frameworks we have in place ensure we identify and act upon any risks accordingly.”

Ready4Home quickly removed the claims from its website, and its previously chatty PR firm clammed up when asked further questions about the source of its revenue. The company did not offer any explanation as to the misleading claims previously on its website about partners, or where its referrals are in fact coming from.

Chemical allies
White was considered a pillar of society before her downfall, an accountant and director of now defunct Chester City football club.

To her dozens of foot soldiers, however, she was known only as P, the mysterious boss of a firm that imported chemicals from Asia and then mixed, packaged and sold them via the internet. Tests found they contained illicit substances, including class B drugs mephedrone and methylone.

She still has the best part of a £12m confiscation order hanging over her – the amount police believe she made from her drugs business between 2010 and 2013. She wore her ill-gotten gains lavishly, dressing in designer gear, buying a portfolio of properties in the North-west and abroad and driving a £120,000 Aston Martin. Her dog lived in a £10,000 kennel.

She was ordered to repay £1.7m, including cash hidden in Tanzania, by a Carlisle crown court judge in 2018, a condition of her early release.

Hymanson, a former designer for high street fashion chain Karen Millen, was the face of the drugs business, helping keep White's identity secret. The former Harrogate Ladies School pupil won the moniker "the Headmistress” for her fierce supervision of their distribution factory in Bolton, nicknamed Area 51.

A family member of one of the company's tenants said: "My relative is vulnerable and we were shocked to find out who was running the company looking after him. He's frightened to complain, knowing their past. I know everyone deserves a second chance, but is this really appropriate?”