Swansea Crown Court Sentencing Results

On 6 March, police stopped a vehicle on Vicarage Road, Morriston, driven by Darren Phillips with passenger Thomas Chislett. The 39-year-old had around £3,500 worth of cocaine in the car, including 84g at 79% purity, along with 170g of benzocaine cutting agent, scales, and £120 cash. Further wraps at 11% purity were on the centre console. Phillips also had £490 cash on his person. A search of his West Cross home shared with partner Melissa Barry uncovered 145 packets of THC edibles and jars worth £1,600. Phone analysis showed he was en route to a customer and that Barry had assisted in weighing and distributing drugs. Phillips admitted the bag was his but denied dealing, later pleading guilty. He accumulated debts and began supplying a drug he was addicted to.

Richard Murnane posed as a roofer and scammed elderly victims out of tens of thousands of pounds by taking large deposits for work that was of abysmal standard and often left unfinished. Many victims suffered water damage and faced large repair bills.

Rennie Price targeted elderly and vulnerable pensioners, including one aged 98, pretending he had carried out work on their properties before demanding money. The court heard he was motivated by drug addiction and had previously been imprisoned for fraud.

Owain Williams-Bates trashed his partner's flat, cut up her clothes, threw pasta sauce, paint and flour around, cut cables on electrical items, and emptied bags of rubbish onto her bed. He also stole a memory box containing keepsakes of her son.

Omar Ahmed was stopped by police in Swansea city centre on 6 July 2026 after officers saw he matched the description of a person wanted in connection with alleged drug dealing. He was found with a phone, £115 in cash, and keys to a Honda Civic parked nearby. A search of the car uncovered half a kilogram of cannabis worth around £3,800. He answered no comment in interview and later pleaded guilty.

Police executed a search warrant at Shaun Peters' home in Skewen on July 8 and found 97g of cannabis, cannabis vapes, cannabis edibles, and cash estimated at between £8,000 and £10,000. His phone contained messages related to supplying cannabis. At the time he was subject to a suspended sentence for similar drug offending.

Shane Kelly, 36, of High Street, Skewen, was connected to a mobile phone seized during a drugs raid in Briton Ferry in July 2024. The phone had been used by multiple dealers and contained a list of drug users. Kelly was arrested in July 2025. Messages showed he supplied cocaine directly to users and passed quantities to another dealer. A search of his home found weighing scales with traces of white powder and snap-seal bags. He also admitted simple possession of cannabis.

In early 2024, police identified a county lines drug operation between London and south Wales. On April 19, 2024, officers intercepted a Volkswagen T-Cross driven by Stirton on the westbound M4 at Margam, with passenger Angelica Davey. Found 58 wraps of heroin and 147 wraps of cocaine worth £2,400, plus a burner phone and defendants' phones showing multiple trips between London and Swansea in March and April, bulk texts advertising drugs sent from Sarn Park services, and hotel bookings in Swansea.

Ryan Tucker ran his own separate drug supply operation from the family home on Gwyn Terrace, Port Talbot, supplying cocaine, amphetamine, and cannabis. The investigation began on 29 August 2024 after witnessing a suspected drugs exchange involving his brother. On 7 September 2024, police arrested him, seizing his phone and £3,125 cash; phone analysis revealed messages about drug deals over the previous 12 months, including selling for Scousers and owing money to Merseysiders. On Boxing Day 2025, he crashed a VW Golf in Port Talbot, found covered in cocaine with nearly 40g cocaine and 100g cannabis in the car; he was hospitalised in a coma.

In April 2024 following a road traffic collision in Blaenavon, emergency services found Whitehead sat in a crashed car sniffing nitrous oxide canisters. The defendant was arrested and searched; in his bum bag police found 56 individual wraps of crack cocaine and 30 wraps of heroin with a combined street value of almost £4,000 while in his pockets was some £273 in cash. Police also recovered a Nokia burner phone containing messages relating to the supply of class A drugs including 'text bombs' saying 'Get your orders in' and one sent on the morning of his arrest saying 'Active from 8.30. Drops. Both'.

On October 27, 2024, police stopped Saif Ali's white Ford Fiesta exiting Gore Terrace in Swansea at speed due to strong smell of cannabis. Search found 79g cannabis in 16 bags, £765 cash, 7.3g cocaine, and blister packs of tablets in the car; Ali had four 0.5g bags of cocaine on him. Home search uncovered scales with white residue, £300 cash, and small bags of white powder. Phone showed messages relating to drug supply.

On 30 August 2020, Dyfed-Powys Police executed a warrant at Susan Marie Proffitt's home on South Road in Ceredigion and found a box containing 408 grams of heroin hidden in a vent under the staircase, with two more wraps concealed inside a shower head bracket. Proffitt's fingerprints were on the drugs. She was a trusted part of an organised crime gang supplying heroin into the division.

Thomas John distributed Class A drugs, including cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine, across south Wales throughout 2022. He was arrested in January 2023, and evidence from his mobile phone uncovered his involvement in drug supply. He later pleaded guilty.

Thomas Morgan came to police attention after detectives found Facebook messages discussing cocaine during a separate drugs investigation. On 31 March, officers searched his home in Swansea and found £8,720 concealed behind a bathroom sink, £395 in his wallet, and £180 in a tea tin, along with a knuckleduster and a tissue-wrapped bag containing traces of an unidentified powder. Examination of his phone revealed drug supply messages from December 2025 to March 2026. He was already subject to a community order for cannabis possession and coercive and controlling behaviour towards a former partner, and to a suspended sentence for dangerous driving.

Thomas Chislett, 33, of Heol Nant Gelli, Treboeth, was the passenger in Phillips' car when it was stopped. He had been promoting cannabis edibles on his phone under the tagline 'Chissy's sweet shop now open' and had messages connected to cannabis supply. He denied involvement in cocaine supply, claiming the messages were a joke, but pleaded guilty to supply offences. Chislett was a heavy cocaine user motivated to change for his daughter. The recorder noted that without the recent change in law raising the suspended sentence threshold from two to three years, he would have received immediate custody.

Taylor Moran was identified as a downstream supplier of cocaine and ketamine following examination of a co-defendant's mobile phone. A search at his address recovered an iPhone, an air rifle and a gun, and his mobile phone showed he had been street dealing.

Terry Lawer, aged 43, was involved in the supply of cocaine alongside Dawn Lewis. Messages showed requests for him to make deliveries. A search of the home recovered cocaine, empty bags, and cash. He claimed the drugs were for personal use. He had previously pleaded guilty and will serve up to half the sentence in custody before release on licence.