THE "HEADMISTRESS" of an internet drugs empire has been jailed for four years.

Netta Hymanson, of Circular Road, Prestwich, was one of seven defendants sentenced for their part in the largest "legal high" investigation in the UK with around £4million of drugs sold online.

She was convicted of conspiracy to supply class B drugs at a trial and was sentenced at Bolton Crown Court on Friday.

The 64-year-old is the former civil partner of the gang's ringleader Paula White, aged 46, of Stafford Road, Eccles.

White was jailed for nine years for her role in selling £4 million of the drugs, which ended up killing a man.

Hymanson, who told the court she had previously been a designer for Karen Millen, ran a drugs distribution factory in Farnworth, Bolton, on White's behalf.

The gang would package orders of 'legal highs' and mail them off around the world, with the proceeds ending up in bank accounts in Tanzania and Cyprus.

The court was told Hymanson was nicknamed the 'headmistress' by staff due to her strict supervision at the factory.

A long-running police investigation began in mid-2012, when Jersey and the Channel Islands authorities saw a sharp rise in the amount of drugs purporting to be legal highs coming onto the islands via postal deliveries.

Police and customs intercepted postal deliveries and established they had been bought on a website called Wide Mouth Frogs, with most packages posted from Greater Manchester.

The website offered 35 products for sale, and though all purported to be legal, police test purchases showed almost four in five products were illegal.

A surveillance operation captured gang members leaving a post office and led officers to the Farnworth factory, which was nicknamed Area 51 as it was so secretive.

Officers swooped and found a complex set-up including the gangs' own drug store.

The gang members were arrested in May 2013.

One of the website's customers, Grant Wooldridge, died in July 2012 after taking drugs purchased from the website.

After the hearing, Detective Superintendent Jason Hudson, of the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said after the hearing: "We know that drugs purchased from the Wide Mouth Frogs website have contributed to the death of one man and hospitalised a number of others.

"This case once again highlights just what a lottery it is for your health if you choose to take drugs such as these."

The other defendants convicted were: Christian White, aged 39, of Nelson Street, Salford, jailed for four years; Rudie Chiu, aged 26, of Hornbeam Way, Levenshulme, and Sheena Jessop, 47, of Grants Lane, Ramsbottom, jailed for two years suspended for two years; Michaela Doyle, aged 44, of Croft Street, Salford, was jailed for a year, suspended for two years; and Aniello Della-Croce, aged 30, of Bowker Vale Gardens, Crumpsall, was given an 18 months sentence, suspended for two years.