Businessman dealt drugs after losing his home
A SUCCESSFUL recruitment consultant who lost his business and home in the Covid pandemic turned to dealing Class A drugs to make ends meet and support this young children.
Richard Hicks was caught redhanded with a stash of cocaine deals and hundreds of pounds in cash when police swooped on the parked car he was sitting in. When officers checked his phone they found a message he had received just minutes earlier asking how long he was going to be because his contact had people waiting for their delivery.
The defendant’s advocate told Swansea Crown Court that Hicks had said to him that getting involved in drug-dealing was the worst decision he had ever made.
Brian Simpson, prosecuting, said on the afternoon of March 23 this year police in an unmarked vehicle on Swansea’s Carmarthen Road began to follow a car that was swerving in and out of traffic as it headed towards the city centre.
The officers followed the car on to High Street and into the car park near the castle. The court heard that when the target vehicle stopped the officers moved in and identified themselves. Hicks, 31, was in the front passenger seat of the car, and at his feet were a bag containing wraps of cocaine and crack cocaine, weighing scales, and £410 in cash. In the back of the car was a jacket containing a crack pipe and more cocaine.
Hicks and the male driver of the car were arrested, and officers searched Hicks’ home, where they found 19g of cocaine in the kitchen, a satchel containing another 2.7g of cocaine, and half-a-kilo of caffeine and paracetamol powder, which the court heard were popular substances for bulking out or “cutting” cocaine.
The prosecutor said that when police examined the defendant’s phone they found incoming and outgoing messages relating to supplying drugs over the previous week, including one which had been received just minutes before the arrest asking how long Hicks was going to be as the contact had people waiting for him.
The defendant gave a “no comment” interview.
Robert James Hicks, of Cwm Clyd, Waunarlwydd, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply when he appeared in the dock via videolink for sentencing. He has five previous convictions for eight offences, the last for a public order matter in 2013.
Dan Griffiths, for Hicks, said a short custodial sentence the defendant served in 2013 had been a turning point for him, and following his release from prison he had moved to south-east England and found employment as a recruitment consultant.
He said Hicks had apparently excelled in that career, being swiftly promoted through the ranks and given responsibility for a number of lucrative accounts. The advocate said Hicks went on to launch his own company, but the Covid pandemic decimated the business which eventually collapsed. This resulted in debts which forced the defendant to sell his house and move back to Swansea.
Mr Griffiths said his client found work as a carpenter with a construction company but then suffered a serious industrial injury when he fell. Living in a “squalid flat”, suffering with depression and being chased for the outstanding debts, the advocate said Hicks then turned to supplying drugs “to make ends meet and to provide for this two young children”.
He added that the father-of-two had made it clear to him in conference that getting involved in drugdealing had been “the worst decision of his life”, while his client’s current partner was still trying to process what was happening and was coming to terms with having to take their baby to Swansea prison to visit Hicks.
Judge Geraint Walters told Hicks that while the collapse of his business during the pandemic had not been his fault, he had been foolish to engage in drug-dealing as a way out of his situation and had jeopardised not only his own freedom but also the dignity of his partner and child, who had been left to pick up the pieces.
He said the message needed to be understood by those who peddle Class A drugs and inflict misery on addicts and communities that “their time will come” and they will face prison when caught.
With a one-quarter discount for his guilty plea, Hicks was sentenced to three years in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The judge ordered that the money seized when Hicks was arrested be given to South Wales Police to help with their work tackling the drugs trade.
The court heard the driver of the car in which the defendant was travelling was released under investigation.