Cardiff spice dealer jailed after storage unit drugs find

A homeless man who sold spice on the streets of Adamsdown in Cardiff has been jailed after officers traced part of his supply to a self-storage unit.

Darren Davis, 39, of no fixed abode, was given 16 months in prison at Cardiff Crown Court. His partner, Catherine Evans, 36, of Aberystwyth Street, Splott, was spared jail, receiving a six-month sentence suspended for 18 months.

The sentences

Recorder Greg Bull KC said everything he had read made it plain that Davis had been working as a street dealer in Adamsdown. He added that he accepted Evans had only been drawn into the offending because of her relationship with Davis.

Davis’s term reflected a one-third reduction for his guilty pleas. He will spend one-third of it in custody before being released on licence to serve the rest in the community.

Evans entered her pleas at a later stage of the proceedings and received a one-quarter reduction. Alongside the suspended sentence, she must complete a rehabilitation course and a mental health treatment requirement.

What they admitted

Both had already pleaded guilty before returning to court to be sentenced.

Stopped in the street

Prosecutor Emily Jermin told the court that on 2 June this year, officers patrolling Adamsdown spotted a group of people they knew to be drug users walking behind Davis. They stopped and searched him and found six bags of synthetic cannabinoids, commonly known as spice, worth up to £750, along with £1,587 in cash. He was arrested.

A search of his room at the Wallich hostel where he had been living turned up a further 24 bags of spice, a quantity of “loose spice”, nearly £3,000 in cash, weighing scales, several phones and 22g of cannabis.

His account in interview

In a prepared statement, Davis claimed the spice was for his own use and said he knew nothing about the cannabis. He put the cash down to a combination of gambling winnings, an inheritance and money owed to him by family and friends. He was released under investigation while the phones were examined.

The lock-up and the safe

As inquiries continued, officers learned that Davis had been visiting a unit at a nearby Pink Storage site. A warrant was executed there on 2 July, and inside Unit 11 police found spice worth £10,000 and £400 in cash.

The investigation also took officers to Evans’s home in Splott. There they recovered:

• 50g of spice
• Some £4,420 in cash, kept in a safe
• A Nokia burner phone
• An electric bike

Police then returned to the hostel to arrest Davis. A second search of his room uncovered weighing scales, a bag of spice and £550 in cash, while another £830 was found in his pockets.

Previous offending

Davis has 26 previous convictions covering 43 offences. They include production of cannabis in 2016 and possession of heroin with intent to supply in both 2017 and 2020. The 2020 offence led to a 40-month prison sentence. Evans has no previous convictions.

Mitigation

William Bebb, representing Davis, told the court his client had a deprived and difficult upbringing, and that drugs and homelessness lay at the root of his offending. He said Davis had been caught in a “spiral” of drug use and dealing, with drugs his “day-to-day reality” at the time. He added that his client was now on a drug-free wing in prison.

David Pinnell, for Evans, said she was seeking help with her mental health difficulties. He argued that working with the Probation Service would give her life the structure and purpose it needed.