A couple formed a "drug-dealing unit" with one handling cocaine and the other cannabis, a court has heard. Jonathan Howells and Kate Pullen were arrested after police became suspicious of their behaviour outside a Neath house and followed their car to Briton Ferry. Subsequent searches found wraps of cocaine in Pullen's bra and a phone hidden in a private place and a stash of cannabis and thousands of pounds of cash in their house.
A judge noted that Howells' attitude towards cannabis had been demonstrated when he had told the jury during his trial that he had consumed the drug that morning before coming to court. Alycia Carpanini, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on on February 6, 2021, police on patrol in Neath town centre saw two people acting suspiciously in Richmond Street. She said they were seen to come out of a house in the street and look around before getting into a car and driving off.
The car was followed as far as Briton Ferry where police stopped it in Ynysymaerdy Road. When officers approached the vehicle they could smell cannabis and they found four cannabis joints in the footwell along with a small bag of cannabis. The occupants of the car, Howells and Pullen, were arrested and searched.
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The prosecutor said Howells was found to have £165 in cash in a trouser pocket while Pullen was found to have nothing of evidential value. However the barrister said when Pullen was later strip-searched in the police station she was found to have 19 bags of cannabis in her bra and an Alcatel phone between her buttocks. A subsequent search of the Richmond Street house the pair had been seen exiting uncovered almost £3,300 in cash stored in various locations along with 82g of cannabis, weighing scales, and a large number of snap-seal bags. Phones were also seized which contained messages related to the buying and selling of drugs.
Jonathan Lee Howells, aged 26, of Richmond Street, Neath, had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis and to the simple possession of cannabis when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He had previously been acquitted at trial of possession of cocaine with intent to supply. Kate Marie Pullen, aged 29, of Dol Hir, North Cornelly, Bridgend, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply. Howells has six previous convictions for 11 offences including drug-driving and the simple possession of cannabis while Pullen has three previous convictions for three offences including drug-driving.
James Hartson, for Howells, said since being remanded into custody while awaiting sentence the defendant had been abstinent from cannabis and "now realises there are better and legal ways of medicating his mental health issues". The barrister pointed to the delay in the case, saying it had taken police 17 months from the point of arrest to charge his client via postal requisition.
Steve Burnell, for Pullen, invited the judge to read a "very poignant letter" which had been submitted to the court and which set out the issues in his client's life. He too pointed to the delay in the case.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said having presided over Howells' trial he was in a good position to assess the overall picture of offending. He noted the defendants had been in a relationship since school days and he said they had been operating as a "drug-dealing unit". He said he entirely rejected the assertions Howells had made during his trial that the money recovered by police had been earned through repairing vehicles and he said the household had been "engaged in substantial drug dealing of both Class A and Class B".
Judge Thomas said that having heard all the evidence in the trial he had come to the conclusion that Pullen had been acting under the direction of others and had, to use the "crude but well-known phrase", been to an extent "thrown under the bus". He also noted Howells' attitude towards cannabis which he said had been demonstrated when the defendant had told the jury that he had consumed the drug that morning before coming to court.
The judge added that the delay in the case coming to court – for which there was no proper explanation – was a "potent factor" he took into account when deciding on the sentences. With a one-third discount for their guilty pleas Howells was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison and Pullen to 16 months in prison. The defendants will each serve up to half those sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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