Deacon Facey (Image: South Wales Police)
Last Updated: 1 minute ago
A young man who ran a crack cocaine and heroin line from a mobile phone has been sent to prison for two years and eight months.
Deacon Facey, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court, where he appeared by video link from prison. Recorder Greg Bull KC handed him 32 months behind bars.
The surveillance
Officers’ suspicions were raised on June 30 when they saw Facey straddling a bicycle near City Road and looking nervous. They kept watch as he raised what the court heard was a ‘burner style’ handset to his ear, then crossed the road to join two men sheltering in a doorway.
Stopped and searched
Believing a drug transaction was taking place, officers moved in – and the three men immediately went their separate ways. Prosecuting barrister Sarah Grace told the court that Facey was detained and searched, with officers recovering a Nokia handset, £55 in cash and a strip of pregabalin tablets.
Phone evidence
A manual trawl of the handset proved decisive. Its sent folder contained a series of messages reading ‘live’ – the marker officers took as confirmation the phone was an operational drugs line. The received inbox held further material pointing to class A supply, among it the phrase ‘half a T’, which the court was told is street slang for a deal of controlled drugs.
Arrest and denial
Facey was taken to Cardiff Bay police station and arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs. In a prepared written statement, he rejected any involvement in dealing and told officers the Nokia was not his but had been lent to him. He later entered guilty pleas to being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin, and to possessing a class C drug.
Mitigation
Ben Jones, representing Facey, said: “He is deeply remorseful and ashamed of his actions. He pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. He was working alone as a one-man band and committed offences to fund his own drug habit.
“He has had a significant and long standing habit that he has struggled with since the age of 13. At the time of offending, the defendant was in the deep throes of drug addiction, and addicted to cocaine and pregabalin.
“The defendant’s drug use escalated over time to where he was spending £300 to £400 a day on cocaine.
“He has been effectively homeless since he was 16, spending time in hostels and on the street which has had an impact on his development as a young man. He is still a young man at the age of 24 and has a limited antecedent history.
“He was selling drugs to fund his own addictions and can recognise he was surrounded by negative peers and influencers. He knows he needs to move out of Cardiff to a different area and surround himself with more positive people so he doesn’t repeat these behaviours.
“Since his remand into custody he is now drug free for the first time in a long time and wishes to return to education and gain qualifications to better his future.”
Sentencing
Recorder Greg Bull KC imposed a term of 32 months. Facey has been drug free since being remanded, the court was told, and hopes to return to education on release.
