Police found almost 150 ready-to-sell deals of crack cocaine and heroin hidden in a washing machine, a court has heard. Officers had gone to the flat in Swansea to conduct a check on the tenant following concerns about her welfare.
Police found the person they were looking for – Tammy Vandenberg – along with a man from Birmingham and more than £2,400 of Class A drugs concealed in the detergent drawer of the washer. Both people in the flat were arrested, and Vandenberg later admitted she had allowed the visitor to stay in her home and had acted as a runner for him, delivering drugs and collecting cash. Swansea Crown Court heard the man – who told police he was only in Swansea to visit his girlfriend whom he wouldn't name – is currently on the run and his whereabouts are unknown.
READ MORE: Spice dealer tried to flee through window as police raided his flat
Sian Cutter, prosecuting, said police went to Vandenberg's flat in May 2020 to carry out a welfare check. She said the officers spoke to the tenant and she appeared to be nervous. The flat was searched and in the drawer of the washing machine officers found 115 wraps of crack cocaine and 29 wraps of heroin together worth more than £2,300. Mobile phones belonging to the pair were seized and examined and on the visitor's phone officers found messages relating to drug deals as well as Vandenberg's address which he had been texted the day before the police arrived.
In her subsequent interview the defendant said she had been instructed by a man known as Jay to let the visitor stay at her flat and that she had "done some drugs runs" for him. She said while she had not been threatened she had felt under pressure to allow the stranger to stay, saying that Jay was "not a nice person". Read about a scrap metal dealer who says he turned to dealing in heroin and cocaine when Covid saw his work drying up.
Tammy Jayne Vandenberg, aged 50 and now of Penydarren Road, Merthyr, admitted being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and being concerned in the supply of heroin. The pleas were entered on the basis that she had been asked by another person to allow a man called Ricky to stay at her house and she had delivered drugs for him in return for drugs for her own use. Miss Cutter said while the prosecution did not necessarily accept all of the basis the Crown did not seek to challenge it at a trial of issue. Vandenberg had two previous offences on her record for robbery and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Andrew Davies, for Vandenberg, said the defendant's life had been "dogged by misery and misfortune" from an early age and she had been exploited by others in a number of ways. Recorder David Harris said it was clear from what he had read about the defendant that she had felt unable to say no to Jay when he had requested she open her flat to the visitor and that there was a level of exploitation which he would take into account in passing sentence. With a one-third discount for her guilty plea Vandenberg was sentenced to 12 months in prison. She will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
The court heard the whereabouts of the visitor from Birmingham are currently unknown. He failed to turn up Swansea Magistrates' Court for an earlier hearing and an arrest warrant was issued which has not yet been executed.
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