A cocaine dealer kept his supplies of the drug in empty paracetamol packets in his flat, a court has heard.
Marcus Davies was arrested on a Neath street by police officers who had linked a suspected drugs phone line to him. When they searched his home they found a stash of the Class A drug hidden in painkiller boxes along with a quantity of cannabis and more than £1,200 in cash. He later told officers he had turned to supplying drugs because he could not find a job.
Sending the 22-year-old to prison, a judge at Swansea Crown Court told him that cocaine and other Class A drugs ruined the lives of users and their families, and devastate communities.
Alycia Carpanini, prosecuting, said on the evening of January 31 this year police on patrol on Rope Walk in Neath town centre saw the defendant outside a property. She said police had intelligence that a phone number linked to Davies had been used for supplying drugs.
The defendant was stopped and spoken to and made "unprovoked comments" that he was supplying cocaine and cannabis because he could not find a job. A subsequent search of his flat uncovered a quantity of cocaine hidden in paracetamol boxes along with 68g of cannabis, some £1,255 in cash, and a set of weighing scales. He answered "no comment" to all questions asked at his interview. Read about a woman who made crack cocaine in her kitchen and sold it to users from the window.
Marcus Timothy Paul Davies, of Crythan Road, Melin, Neath, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply, being concerned in the supply of cocaine, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, and being concerned in the supply of cannabis when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.
Steve Burnell, for Davies, said the defendant had turned to street dealing after being unable to find work, and had been a user of cocaine at the time. He said his client had co-operated with police, and was in a relationship which provided "some stability" in his life.
Judge Catherine Richards told Davies that Class A drugs devastated communities, and that those who dealt in them must expect immediate custody. With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Davies was sentenced to a total of 28 months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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