Dealer told police he had cocaine in his underpants

A COCAINE dealer was part of a circle of young people who regard coke as a “recreational drug” and not a serious Class A drug, a court has heard.

The 27-year-old was caught after checks showed the car he was driving was registered with the DVLA as being off the road.

When police pulled over the vehicle and told Samuel Beddoe he was going to be searched, he replied that he had “a few bags” of coke in his underpants. An examination of his phone found messages which showed he had been actively involved in supplying the Class A drug.

Swansea Crown Court heard that on October 13 last year plain clothes police officers in an unmarked vehicle in the Llangyfelach area of Swansea saw an Alfa Romeo car driving towards them which was recorded on the DVLA system as being registered as off the road.

Craig Jones, prosecuting, said the officers turned around and followed the Alfa for a short distance before signalling for it to stop.

When the driver, Beddoe, was told he was going to be searched he appeared “nervous” and then produced a small package from his pants, telling the officers: “It’s cocaine. Only a few bags.”

The court heard the package contained a number of small grip-seal bags containing 16.5g of cocaine of a purity of around 10 per cent which were worth between £500 and £1,000. Beddoe’s phones were seized, and on them officers found messages consistent with the supply of the drug.

Samuel James Beddoe, of Llangyfelach Road, Treboeth, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.

Andrew Evans, for Beddoe, said the painter and decorator realised he was in a precarious position with the court.

He said the defendant was part of a group of young people who regard the “possession and distribution of cocaine on a small scale as lower level criminality than other substances” and who see cocaine “as a recreational drug not a Class A drug”.

The advocate said it had been a “stark lesson” for Beddoe when it had been pointed out to him that the law regards cocaine as being on the same level as heroin and crack.

Mr Evans said a letter submitted to the court from the defendant’s parents showed him to be a “model son” who had always wanted to work in a vineyard, and he said Beddoe now realised that he should have listened to his parents when they tried to guide him away from the “extremely poor choices” he had been making in his life.

Judge Paul Thomas QC told Beddoe he had been caught red-handed with a stash of cocaine and messages on his phone which showed he had been dealing the drug on a “commercial and not insubstantial scale”.

He said it seemed from submissions that the defendant regarded cocaine as a substance which was more akin to cannabis but he said cocaine was classified as a Class A drug for a reason. The judge said people who deal in Class A drugs will almost inevitably go to prison unless there are exceptional circumstances - and he could find no such circumstances in this case.

Giving the defendant the required one-third discount for his guilty plea the judge sentenced him to two years and four months in prison. Beddoe will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence under the UK government’s early release scheme to serve the remainder in the community.

There were tears in the public gallery as the defendant was taken down to the cells.