Drug dealer operating in car park of supermarket
A DRUG dealer was caught operating in the car park of a popular supermarket, a court has heard.
Police were patrolling around the Sainsbury’s store in Swansea city centre as it was known as an “area of concern” in regards to the drug trade.
The officers arrested Shane Bowen after becoming suspicious about activity at a parked car, and he was found to be carrying 16 wraps of the psychoactive drug spice. A subsequent search of his house uncovered a large stash of the drug.
Swansea Crown Court heard Bowen is currently a serving prisoner having been jailed last year for abusing and controlling his girlfriend, treating her like his “slave”, and locking her in a cupboard.
Ian Wright, prosecuting, said on the afternoon of March 31 last year officers were carrying out high-visibility patrols in and around the car park of the Sainsbury’s supermarket on Quay Parade which was “a known area of concern in regard to the supply of controlled drugs”.
The officers saw a person they recognised as a drug user approach a parked car and briefly speak to the passenger before walking off. They approached the vehicle and were met by a “strong smell of cannabis”. The court heard that when the passenger, Bowen, was searched officers recovered 16 half-ounce deals of spice along with cash and a mobile phone containing messages relating to the supply of drugs. A subsequent search of the 26-year-old’s house uncovered four-dozen bags of the drug as well as more money. Mr Wright said the total value of all the spice seized by police was up to £7,875.
Shane Steven Bowen, formerly of Parc Newydd, Briton Ferry, and latterly of Elgin Street, Manselton, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of a synthetic cannabinoid with intent to supply when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
He is currently serving a two-year sentence imposed at Swansea Crown in October last year for coercive or controlling behaviour and false imprisonment of his then-partner. This offending had seen him making the woman’s life a “complete misery” during their time together, regularly assaulting her by throttling or headbutting her, controlling her money, and constantly accusing her of cheating on him. One one occasion police found him keeping her prisoner in a cupboard. In a witness statement the woman said she felt like a “slave”.
Dan Griffiths, for Bowen, said the defendant had clearly been operating as a street dealer, and he pointed to the delay in his client being charged and brought to court.
With credit for his guilty plea the defendant was sentenced to six months in prison to run consecutively to the sentence he is currently serving.