Convicted murderer pays just £10 fine despite raking in £15,000 dealing drugs

A murderer and drug dealer who wed a female police officer before she too was jailed for helping his criminal empire has been ordered to pay just £10 – despite raking in £15,000 behind bars.                                                                                              Leon Ramsden, 35, was caged for life in 2009 for stabbing a man to death in a bar but while inside dealt cannabis, started a relationship with prison guard Stephanie Heaps and eventually marrying her.

Last year Heaps, 33 – who later joined Greater Manchester Police (GMP) – quit the force and was jailed for sharing police data with him in prison and assisting his criminal empire.                                                                                                                      Now a Proceeds of Crime hearing at Bolton Crown Court has found he made £15,000 from his criminal activities but due to an apparent lack of assets ordered he pay back just £10.

Heaps – now officially Stephanie Ramsden – joined GMP as a constable in Bolton in July 2019, when she was already embroiled in criminal activity. 

Ramsden was involved in money laundering, drug dealing, and a conspiracy to burgle an address in St Helens, Merseyside, in November that year. 

Heaps, of Runcorn, Cheshire, admitted offences including conspiracy to commit burglary and was jailed for four years and three months at Bolton Crown Court. 

GMP said Heaps did not declare she was in a relationship with murderer Ramsden when she worked as a prison officer in Lancashire from March 2018 – before later joining the force and also failing to do so. 

But GMP’s anti-corruption unit was tipped off about her links to Ramsden and began investigating her in September 2019. 

It discovered she often visited him in prison, contacting him via illicit phones he had in his cell and sharing sensitive police information with him. 

On one occasion while on duty, Heaps also failed to arrest a wanted domestic abuse suspect while responding to an incident, due to the suspect being an associate of her husband. 

She was arrested in January 2020 and resigned from the police weeks later.

In October 2022 she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to transfer, conceal and convert criminal property regarding the money laundering of Ramsden’s drugs money – and misconduct in a public office. 

Now a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing in relation to the case was held at Bolton Crown Court and was told Ramsden has benefited from his criminality to the tune of £15,000. 

Prosecutor Annabel Hale said: “The benefit amount is £15,619.82. The available amount is £10.” 

The Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh, ordered that £10 be paid within seven days. 

A further POCA hearing in relation to his wife Heaps will be heard at a later date. 

Ramsden was jailed for life in January 2009 with a minimum of 17 years at Manchester Crown Court after being convicted of murdering father-of-three Paul Gilligan, 31, by stabbing him to death in a packed bar in July 2008. 

Judge Mr Justice Teare told him at the time: “Paul Gilligan’s death has caused great suffering to his partner, their three children and also his parents and two brothers. 

“Onlookers saw you and Paul Gilligan in what was thought to be a friendly tussle. You felt humiliated and left the pub. You returned determined upon revenge. 

“This was a senseless unprovoked murder which has devastated Paul Gilligan’s family. I’m sure that in stabbing him twice, that you intended to kill him. Nothing Paul Gilligan did could justify your actions.”

Following the guilty murder verdict Mr Gilligan’s mother, Maureen, said: “We’ve got justice for Paul. We want to say thank you to the police, the brave witnesses that came forward and the legal team. We are very grateful.” 

The court heard Ramsden stabbed Mr Gilligan — known as Gilly — twice in the former Pepper Alley Pub in Bolton town centre in the early hours of Sunday July 13th 2008. 

Ramsden and his victim had spoken to each other and appeared to be laughing and joking. A “play fight” broke out and Mr Gilligan put Ramsden in a head lock and ruffled his hair. 

Insulted, Ramsden walked out of the pub but returned within seconds armed himself with a knife, stabbing Mr Gilligan once in his left shoulder and to the left side of his chest. He died from a stab wound to the heart. 

The jury was told Ramsden had been on a three-day drink and drugs binge before the murder and had shared a crate of beer, a bottle of vodka and a large amount of cocaine. 

Just hours before he murdered Mr Gilligan, he wrote on Facebook: “I’m twisted at home…feel like killin some1.”