A drug baron and his lover splashed their dirty money on luxury holidays while still claiming thousands in benefits.

Tattooed Michael Lawrence, 42, ran a cocaine ring with family members from his three-bedroom Chessington home.

Meanwhile, his girlfriend Tracy Lucas, 43, pretended they lived apart so the pair could claim thousands in taxpayers’ money for four years.

But the couple’s high life came to a rapid end last October when police raided their home and found cocaine stashed in the kitchen, a cutting agent under the stairs and lists of deals for as much as £125,000.

Police officers also found amphetamines and scales in a Mercedes van parked on the drive of the Grange Road home, where the couple lived with their children.

At Kingston Crown Court on September 27, both pleaded guilty to benefit fraud.

Lawrence, whose tattoo reads “What goes around comes around”, also pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine and money laundering.

Andrew Chatterton, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “These convictions signal the breakdown of a large scale and highly organised criminal network.

“The actions of these defendants contributed to the drug problems that blight London.

“The evidence gathered by the police and put to the court by the Crown Prosecution Service was of such strength it left the defendants with no option but to enter guilty pleas.”

Police were were able to link Lawrence to five other members of the network including his older brother James Lawrence, 44, and sister Sandra Lawrence, 45.

Officers found £8,000 in cocaine-spattered notes at James Lawrence’s home in Moor Road, Chessington, with his fingerprints on.

Miss Lawrence, of Ravensworth Court, Fulham, was found to have deposited £5,000 in drug dealer Elliot Blackburne’s bank account.

Both admitted their involvement in the ring at Kingston Crown Court on Monday, September 27.

Michael Lawrence pleaded guilty to possessing criminal property and his sister pleaded guilty to transferring criminal property.

Blackburne, of Altrincham, Cheshire, also pleaded guilty to transferring £19,000 in criminal property cash and cheques. Adam Gale, of Cleverly estate, Wormholt, who rented Michael Lawrence’s other home in Shepherds Bush, where 1.603kg of cocaine was found, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply.

But Collette Blackburne, 55, also of Altrinchamm Cheshire, was acquitted of laundering £5,000.

All six will be sentenced on November 4 at Kingston Crown Court.