A man was caught with £3,000 worth of heroin in his dressing gown when police raided his house.
Officers also found weighing scales containing traces of both heroin and cocaine, phones full of incriminating messages, £940 in cash, and a stash of bicarbonate of soda - a key ingredient in converting coke into crack cocaine.
Swansea Crown Court heard police executed a warrant at the home of Paul Jones and Anna Rees in Loughor in October 2020. The couple were searched, and inside Jones' dressing gown officers found a bag containing almost 30g of heroin worth around £3,000.
READ MORE: Accountancy student spending £1,000 a month on cocaine turned to dealing the drug
Helen Randall, prosecuting, said officers then searched the property and found weighing scales containing the residue of both heroin and cocaine, a further package of heroin, a wallet containing £960, a "tick list" of moneys owed, three mobile phones, and a quantity of bicarbonate of soda, an alkali which is commonly used for cooking cocaine as it is converted into crack cocaine. The court heard that when the phones were examined they were found to contain messages relating to the supply of heroin and cocaine. The prosecutor said police also found a tub containing tablets of the Class C drug buprenorphine, though no charges were brought in regard to these.
In his interview Jones denied being involved in dealing saying the heroin found on him had been for his own personal use, and that he was spending up to £300 a week on the drug. He claimed the cash found in his wallet were savings. Rees later answered "no comment" to most questions asked in her interview. However, she did admit that she and Jones were spending between £50 and £80 per day on heroin. The court heard there was no explanation as to the delay in the case coming before the courts.
Read about a talented young rugby player who turned to dealing crack cocaine after a serious injury ended his dreams of playing the game.
Paul Anthony Jones - also known as Vaughan Evans - aged 46 of West Street, Gorseinon, Swansea, and 48-year-old Anna Marie Rees, of Heol Maes y Cerrig, Loughor, Swansea, had both previously pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to supply, and to being concerned in the supply of heroin and being concerned in the supply of cocaine when they appeared in the dock for sentencing. Jones has 25 previous convictions for 80 offences including for the cultivation of cannabis, and for the battery of his partner. Rees has two previous convictions for two offences, including the possession of a Class A drug.
Andrew Evans, for Jones, said the defendant had been struggling with addiction to substances for much of his life, and was now on a prescription for the heroin substitution medication methadone - though he said the court would be concerned to hear that there were suggestions that Jones had been abusing other Class A drugs as recently as last month. Jon Tarrant, for Rees, said the defendant was somebody with a "fair degree of vulnerability", and said it was clear from reports into his client that her relationship with Jones "has far-reaching influences on her lifestyle". He said Rees was seeking help for her drug addiction, had not reoffended since being arrested almost two years ago, and was concerned about the impact any custodial sentence would have on her autistic adult son.
Judge Catherine Richards said it was clear from the messages recovered from the defendants' phones that they had been dealing to other addicts in their social circle primarily to fund their own habits, and she said there was no evidence of any extravagant lifestyle being funding by their "unsophisticated" operation.
With a 17 per cent discount for his guilty pleas Jones was sentenced to two years and 11 months in prison for each of the three offences, all the sentences to run concurrently with each other. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The judge said though there was no basis of plea for Rees she was satisfied from what she had read about the defendant that she had played a lesser role in the dealing operation, and that there was a reasonable prospect of rehabilitation in her case. With a 17 per cent discount for her guilty pleas Rees was sentenced to 23 months in prison suspended for two years, and she was ordered to complete a drug rehabilitation programme.
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