DEALERS OFF OUR STREETS
TWO JAILED FOR DRUG SUPPLY
A wedding business owner who boosted her income by selling ecstasy and cannabis and boasted in a text “who says crime doesn’t pay” has been jailed.
Melanie Jayne Chirgwin, of Rhosgadfan, Caernarfon was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday after she was found guilty at Caernarfon Crown Court last month to possessing drugs with intent to supply.
Chirgwin broke down and wept in the dock as she was jailed by the Judge, Mr Recorder Jeremy Jenkins.
The jury had heard Chirgwin’s vehicle was stopped by police in Penrallt, Caernarfon in the early hours of August 29 last year.
When officers carried out a search they found 120 ecstasy tablets with a street value of about £380, tucked under her belt and a small amount of cannabis.
A further search found several mobile phones and sim cards.
Ffion Tomos, prosecuting said: “Although the amount of cannabis found was small the evidence on the mobile phones demonstrated her involvment in the supply of drugs.
“Messages suggested she was making as much as £1,000 a week and she boasted in one message about this and added ‘who says crime doesn’t pay’.”
Arrested and interviewed Chirgwin claimed her phone had been hacked and she was not the one who had sent the messages.
Chirgwin added she and her partner, Simon David Robinson, were both cannabis users and had purchased a quantity for their own use.
“She said the scales (found in her home) were used to make sure they were not being ripped off,” added Ms Tomos.
The ecstasy tablets had been handed to her by another man she claimed.
Jailing her the judge said: “Clearly you were making a substantial amount of money from this activity.
“At your trial you insisted you were being set up. You claim your mobile phone had been hacked into and you maintain this fiction to this day.
“The evidence points to you astaking a leading role in the supply of cannabis.”
Her barrister Matthew Curtis argued she was a woman highly thought of in her community.
He handed in testimonials from people who called her kind-hearted and generous.
Mr Curtis added she was a woman of previous good character and a prison sentence would have an impact not only on Chirgwin but on others as well.
The judge ordered a Proceeds of Crime Investigation to be carried out into Chirgwin’s affairs and a further hearing will be held in due course.
Simon Robinson, 45, also of Rhosgadfan, had pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis at an earlier hearing. He was fined £350 and ordered to pay £150 costs.