Two dealers were openly counting their drugs on a table of a busy morning train, a court has heard. Other passengers on board the service to Swansea were so concerned at what was happening they called police, and officers were waiting for the pair when the train arrived.
The day after they were caught red handed with their stash, one of the dealers went on to carry out an armed robbery of a shop - a raid which saw him subsequently handed an extended sentence as a dangerous offender who poses a risk to the public.
Swansea Crown Court heard that on the morning of February 4 last year police received calls from members of the public about the suspicious activity of two intoxicated men on a train from Llanelli to Swansea who were sitting at a table which was covered in tablets. Craig Jones, prosecuting, said British Transport Police officers were waiting at Swansea station when the Great Western service arrived and they boarding the train.
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The court heard the officers located the two men who "appeared to be counting tablets" on the table in front of them. The pair, Billy Hearn and Callum Booth, were arrested and officers recovered blister packs of Valium pills and the analgesic pregabalin from the table along with 10 loose Valium tablets. Hearn was searched and was found to be carrying 41g of the drug spice along with more Valium and pregabalin tablets. Booth was found to be carrying 100 pregabalin tablets in blister packs, and 35 Valium tablets. After being questioned the pair were released under investigation.
The following day Booth carried out an armed robbery on the Lifestyle Express store on Penderry Road in the Penlan area of Swansea, a raid which saw him and his accomplice Tyler Rowles bursting into the convenience store brandishing an axe. Booth was subsequently given a nine-year extended sentence as a dangerous offender for that incident comprising six years in custody followed by an extended three-year licence period.
Billy Joe Hearn, aged 26, formerly of Crynallt Road, Cimla, Neath, but now of Gore Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, pleaded guilty to possession of spice with intent to supply, possession of pregabalin with intent to supply, possession of Valium with intent to supply, and to the simple possession of pregabalin and Valium when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 19 previous convictions for 25 offences including burglary, public order matters, possession of a knife, and violence. In March this year he was sentenced to two years in prison for two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Callum James Booth, aged 25, of Vivian Street, Hafod, Swansea, pleaded guilty to possession of pregabalin with intent to supply and to possession of Valium with intent to supply when he appeared alongside his co-defendant. He has 26 previous convictions for 47 offences including supplying spice, the shop Penlan robbery, and administering a noxious thing, namely urine - this offence relates to him throwing urine over a prison officer while serving the robbery sentence at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham.
John Allchurch, for Hearn, said the delay in the case coming to court was "probably inexcusable" and the matter could and should have been dealt with much sooner. He said while in prison his client had been studying for an NVQ in business studies, and had also obtained a Construction Skills Certification Scheme card enabling him to work in the construction industry upon his release.
Dan Griffiths, for Booth, said his client had been a low-level street dealer of drugs who also used the substances himself. He said the defendant was currently serving his sentence for the Penlan robbery and would not be able to apply for parole for that matter until November 2025.
Judge Geraint Walters told the defendants they had been openly handling the drugs on the train, and it was little surprise therefore that police were waiting for the m on their arrival and caught them red-handed. The judge said he had not been given an explanation for the delay in the case, and there probably was no explanation that could adequately account for the time taken to come to court. With a one-quarter discount for their guilty pleas both defendants were sentenced to a total of four months in prison. They will serve up to half those sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis, and the court heard those pleas were acceptable to the Crown as the prosecution had concluded, upon a detailed examination of the defendants' phones, that messages found about cannabis related to the pair buying the drug rather than selling it.
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