A man selling Valium tablets on the streets of Neath was unwittingly peddling pills laced with ecstasy, a court has heard. Leon Rowlands was caught red-handed supplying the distinctive blue pills outside a town centre pub but subsequent tests showed the tablets had been mixed with the Class A drug as well as a sedative.
Swansea Crown Court heard Rowlands was addicted to crack cocaine and was selling Valium on the streets to fund that habit. The 24-year-old's advocate said his client was now taking steps to address his problems with drugs.
Hannah George, prosecuting, said on November 28 last year police were carrying out patrols in Neath town centre targeting anti-social behaviour in the area and at around 1pm they saw a group of men "huddled together" outside the David Protheroe pub. As officers watched they saw a male, later identified as the defendant, giving another male a package. Suspecting a drugs transaction was taking place the officers moved and identified themselves and Rowlands told them he had a quantity of Valium tablets in his boxer shorts. The defendant was taken to Neath police station where he was searched and found to have 145 blue tablets in snap-seal bags in his underwear. A subsequent search of his house found another 310 blue pills in a Tupperware box.
READ MORE:Empty town centre shop being used as £160,000 cannabis farm
READ MORE: Pub landlord turned bar into cannabis farm after the business folded
The court heard the defendant’s phone was examined and messages relating to drug supply were found and that a drugs officer concluded from the messages and the prices the tablets were being supplied at that they were being sold as Valium tablets. The street value of all the pills seized if sold as Valium was put at £180. However when the tablets were forensically tested they were found to contain not just Valium but also ecstasy and the synthetic sedative bromazolam. Get the latest crime and court stories sent straight to your email inbox
Leon Rowlands, of Sandfields, Port Talbot, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of ecstasy, a Class A drug, with intent to supply and to possession of Valium with intent to supply and when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. The pleas were entered on the basis that the defendant did not know the tablets he was selling also contained ecstasy. He has previous convictions for burglary, theft, supplying a Class B drug, and possession of cannabis.
Rhodri Chudleigh, for Rowlands, said at the time of the offending in Neath town centre the defendant was dealing with the recent death of his father and his addiction to crack cocaine had "spiralled out of control". He said his client's drug position had "improved dramatically" sine last autumn and he had completed a detox programme with the Dyfodol drugs agency and he was living with his mother and was in a stable relationship.
Judge Huw Rees said he had read reports on the defendant's background and "unbelievably" he had begun using cannabis at the age of 10 and that two years later was taking a range of drugs including meow-meow. The judge said he had read and heard about the steps Rowlands had made in addressing his longstanding drug problem and said he was going to "put him to his mettle" and give him a chance.
The judge said in coming to his sentence he was mindful of the unusual circumstances of the case and of Court of Appeal decision in a case which involved a defendant supplying one drug in the mistaken belief it was another drug. As a result he said the starting point for possession of Class A with intent to supply offence would be reduced from three years to two years. With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Rowlands was sentenced to 16 months in prison for possession of ecstasy with intent to supply and to two months for possession of Valium with intent to supply to run concurrently. The sentence was suspended for 18 months.
Check the latest crime statistics for your area:
