Trio’s brazen bid to get drugs and booze into jail
THREE men used a stolen Range Rover to transport a consignment of contraband to a prison.
The package – containing tobacco, mobile phones and charges, drugs, and miniature bottles of Jack Daniel’s whiskey and Smirnoff vodka – was thrown over the fence of Bridgend’s Parc Prison before the trio sped off.
Police were alerted to what was going on and a high-speed pursuit took place which ended with a “stinger” device being deployed to burst the tyres of the luxury 4x4.
Last week, Swansea Crown Court heard the brazen attempt to get banned items into prison happened on October 14, 2020.
Georgina Buckley said security at HMP Parc prison near Bridgend saw a Range Rover Evoque approaching the fence of the prison, and then a person emerge from the vehicle and throw a package over the wall. The 4x4 – which had been stolen from outside a house in Merthyr Tydfil and was displaying with false plates – then drove off.
The court heard the police were contacted, and the vehicle was picked up by cameras a short time later heading westbound on the M4 motorway. Officers pursued the Range Rover as it travelled along the A48 towards Briton Ferry, and at the Bagle Brook roundabout a “stinger” device was deployed which punctured its tyres.
The court heard the Evoque continued at high speed but was now swerving from side to side as it continued on the rims, and eventually as it approached Briton Ferry a number of police cars were able to surround it, box it in, and bring it to a stop.
In the driver’s seat was Liam Bell, beside him was Marley Craven, and in the back seat was teenager Ben Rose.
Bell failed a roadside drug test for cocaine, while Rose claimed he was having a driving lesson. The court heard the police had encountered Rose on two previous occasions that year.
In January 2020 plain-clothes police officers in the Mount Pleasant area of Swansea saw a teenager – later identified as Rose – acting suspiciously with another man on Portia Terrace, and followed him to a house on nearby Milton Terrace which was occupied by Jahanzaib Malik.
As officers entered the property Malik fled through the back door wearing nothing but a towel having apparently been caught in the middle of showering.
Rose and a third man in the house also ran away – fully clothed – and all three of those who took to their heels were chased and caught.
Rose was found to be in possession of cocaine and cannabis, while in the living room of the house were dozens of wraps of crack and heroin, as well as a Gucci bag containing cannabis.
Almost £2,500 in cash was also recovered from the address along with a number of mobile phones, one of which was linked to a county lines drug dealing gang known as the “Sonic line”.
And in June 2020 Rose was chased after officers saw him conducting what they thought was a drug transaction with another man.
He was pursued to a house where he was found hiding in an upstairs bedroom. In a drawer under the bed were wraps of heroin and crack cocaine, and two mobile phones containing messages relating to drug dealing.
Rose, 18, of Wern Road, Landore, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts conveying prohibited items into a prison, possession of cannabis, and two counts of possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply and two counts of possession of heroin with intent to supply when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. Liam Morgan Bell, 27, of Joseph Davies Close, Waun Wen, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to conveying prohibited items into a prison, aggravated vehicle taking, and dangerous driving when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
The former Tata Steel worker has a previous conviction for possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply.
Marley Eurice Fergie Craven, 26, of Heol Emrys, Penlan, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to conveying prohibited items into a prison.
Jahanzaib Malik, 21, of Llangyfelach Road, Brynhyfryd, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply, possession of heroin with intent to supply, and possession of cannabis with intent to supply. He had also previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis – this related to offending in 2021 and came to light after his 15-year-old brother was arrested with cannabis, and SnapChat messages suggested the defendant had been directing his younger sibling.
In interview Malik had told police: “How can I give money to my mum if I don’t sell drugs?”
He has a previous conviction for supplying cannabis, and convictions from 2020 for dangerous driving, driving with levels of specified drugs above the legal limits and possession of crack cocaine.
These offences relate to an incident when he slammed into a car as he performed wheelies on his motorbike on a busy main road in Swansea while seven times over the legal limit for the powerful tranquilliser ketamine.
Malik was airlifted to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff with bleeding on the brain following the crash.
John Allchurch, for Rose, said the first arrest of his client in January 2020 and his subsequent release had been a “missed opportunity”, and he noted that at an earlier hearing the defendant had effectively asked to be remanded into custody rather than bailed again as “he recognised his life was out of control, and the brakes had to be applied.”
Dan Griffiths, for Bell, said the defendant lost his job during the first Covid lockdown, a loss of employment which coincided with the end of a long-term relationship. As a result Bell fell into depression and isolation, and he began drinking to excess then “inexplicably” started dabbling with cocaine which quickly led to addiction and debt, and to his life “descending into total chaos”.
John Stuart, for Craven, said the defendant had experienced an “extremely difficult upbringing”, much of which was spent in the care system. He said his client had been misusing cannabis and “associating with a negative peer group”, and without any qualifications had struggled to find work – so when people offered him a chance to earn some money he foolishly decided to accept.
Hashim Salmman, for Malik, said the defendant had left school and home at the age of 14, and fell into cannabis use which developed into cocaine and then crack cocaine use. He said his client suffered significant head injuries in the road traffic collision which altered his personality and had a “profound impact” on him.
With discounts for their guilty pleas, Rose was sentenced to 22 months’ detention in a young offenders’ institution; Bell was sentenced to 19 months in prison and was banned from driving for a total of 33 months; Craven was sentenced to 12 months in prison, and Malik was sentenced to 38 months in prison.
The defendants will serve up to half those periods in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.