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.
