Man ‘had no idea where heroin found by police came from’
A MAN accused of conspiring to supply Class A drugs told a court he had no idea where heroin seized by the police had come from.
Ian Wilkins denies the charges against him and he is on trial at Cardiff Crown Court with co-defendants Robert Owen, Natalie Stephens and Kane Griffiths.
During cross-examination, prosecutor Christopher Rees suggested the defendant’s 2009 conviction for supplying heroin indicated he had no “moral problem” with selling drugs.
Wilkins stressed he pleaded guilty on that occasion, adding: “I was helping a friend out.”
The court heard he was sent to prison in 2010 for another drugs trafficking offence and Mr Rees suggested he had a lot of “bad luck”.
Wilkins said he was again “helping out a friend” by giving someone a lift and emphasised he entered a guilty plea then too.
The defendant said he ran a mobile valeting business before working in recycling at the McArthurGlen shopping outlet until summer last year.
He told the court he stopped working and subsequently moved in with Owen at Tremains Road in Bridgend as a temporary arrangement following an argument with his mother.
Wilkins said he had known his codefendant for about three months and was sleeping on his sofa.
Mr Rees suggested: “The two of you were operating a drugs business, selling heroin and crack from his address.”
The prosecutor suggested the pair fell out and now blame each other for the drugs seized by police from the property. Wilkins said that was not true.
Wilkins was seen on CCTV driving a blue BMW to Bridgend railway station on January 23 to pick up two girls, who prosecutors allege were trafficked from London to work selling drugs.
The defendant said the car belonged to his mother and accepted he was driving it, adding Owen asked him for a favour by picking someone up from the station.
Wilkins told the court he did not know who the girls were and they were only in Owen’s address for 25 minutes.
He said he was using heroin, crack cocaine and cannabis at the time of his arrest.
Asked how often he would buy drugs, he replied: “Whenever I could afford them.”
The defendant said he spent between £20 and £50 a day on drugs.
Mr Rees suggested he had “expensive vices” and asked how he could afford up to £350 a week on drugs, plus alcohol and cigarettes, when he was not working. Wilkins said he had savings.
He told the court he had never bought from the Rogue Line, but knew people who had.
Police raided Owen’s home at around 2pm on January 27 and found heroin with a street value of £300, plus digital scales.
John Lewis, for Wilkins, asked: “What do you know about that? Was it yours?” The defendant replied: “Nothing. No.”
He said he did not know who the heroin belonged to and told the court he was not the only person who stayed with Owen.
In his police statement, Wilkins said: “I have no involvement in the supply of controlled drugs.”
Wilkins, 42, from Westward Place in Bridgend, denies two counts of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs and two counts of conspiring to supply Class A drugs.
Robert Owen, 56, from Tremains Road; Natalie Stephens, 31, from Waunscil Avenue; and Kane Griffiths, 22, from Coutts Avenue in Chessington; deny the conspiracy counts.
The trial continues.