Llanelli drug dealer jailed after throwing cocaine from window

A Llanelli man has been jailed for three years after police caught him throwing a bag of cocaine out of a window as officers raided his home.

Jamie Thomas, 36, was already serving a suspended sentence when he started dealing drugs to fund his own addiction. On 30th November last year, police executed a search warrant at his home address in Clos Sant Paul, Llanelli, and witnessed Thomas throwing a bag of white powder from a window during the raid.

When officers recovered and tested the bag, it contained 3.7g of cocaine. Police also seized Thomas’s mobile phone, which revealed incriminating messages referencing “sniff” – common slang for cocaine – along with prices and deal sizes.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Thomas initially claimed in his first police interview that the cocaine was for his personal use only. However, after his phone was analysed, he changed his account in a second interview and admitted he had been dealing to fund his own habit.

The court was told that Thomas has 40 previous convictions for 63 offences, including possession of the Class B drug mephedrone with intent to supply, simple possession of cannabis, and ill-treating a child. He received a suspended sentence for the child ill-treatment offence in September 2024, and was still subject to that sentence when he began dealing cocaine.

The ill-treatment conviction related to an incident when Thomas was found unconscious in a property surrounded by used needles and smashed glass on the floor while a child was present.

Dean Pulling, defending Thomas, told the court his client experienced a “difficult upbringing” which led to experimentation with drugs from an early age. He said Thomas had a “chronic and well-documented history of addiction” and had been acting as a low-level street dealer of cocaine. Mr Pulling added that Thomas took full responsibility for his actions.

Judge Paul Thomas KC told the defendant that when he involved himself in dealing cocaine, he would have been well aware of the sentence awaiting him if caught.

Thomas pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of cocaine. With a one-third discount for his guilty plea, he was sentenced to three years in prison for the drug dealing, with a concurrent six-month sentence for breaching his suspended sentence, making an overall term of three years.

He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.