A drug dealer was busted after police saw him driving erratically and swerving across the road in his car, a court has heard. Officers pulled William Hughes over and found him to be more than twice the drink-drive limit while he had boxes marked "diazepam" stuffed down his pants. In fact the boxes contained 140 flubromazolam tablets – a strong sedative drug. He also had £230 in cash.
When police examined the driver's phone they found he had made arrangements to supply four people on the evening he was arrested and a subsequent search of his house uncovered a stash of cocaine and weighing scales and a further 1,800 flubromazolam pills. Brian Simpson, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that Hughes was arrested on the evening of December 4, 2020, when an officer on patrol in Martin Street in Morriston saw a car being driven "erratically" and swerving back and forth across the white line in the middle of the road.
The defendant was pulled over and given a roadside breath test which he failed. He taken to Swansea Central police station and while in custody a search found five boxes of tablets marked "diazepam" hidden in his boxer shorts. The court heard the tablets turned out not to be Valium but the Class C drug flubromazolam – a powerful benzodiazepine sedative. An evidential breath test showed Hughes had 82mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath with the legal limit for driving being 35mg.
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In a prepared statement given to officers in interview 30-year-old Hughes said he had been using for cocaine for the last decade and had turned to selling diazepam to fund his habit. Read about a family which was running a multi-million-pound cannabis production and supply business from a west Wales property specially selected for its secluded location.
The prosecutor said a subsequent search of the defendant's house found 17g of cocaine worth around £850, weighing scales with traces of the cocaine, £550 in cash, and a further 69 boxes of flubromazolam containing 1,832 tablets. When Hughes' phone was examined officers found messages which showed he had made arrangements to supply drugs to four people on the evening he had been arrested.
William Rhodri Hughes, of Commercial Street, Ystalyfera, admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply and possession of flubromazolam with intent to suppl. He has two previous convictions for three offences which include the drink-driving matter which first brought him to the attention of the police.
Huw Davies, for Hughes, said a pre-sentence report into his client detailed how his use of cocaine had "spiralled out of control" during the Covid pandemic when he had been unable to find work as a bricklayer. The barrister said the defendant had hid his addiction to cocaine from his family who had been "astonished" to learn the truth but he said the defendant was now free of drugs while a letter submitted to the court on Hughes' behalf by a retired police officer spoke highly of him.
Recorder Carl Harrison said the appropriate sentence after trial would have been one of 40 months in prison. With a one-quarter discount for the defendant's guilty plea that was reduced to 30 months. Hughes will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The recorder noted the age of the case and said the explanation he had been given for the six-month delay in police asking the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision involved inexperienced staff working for the police and the impact of Covid.
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