Leon James (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)
Last Updated: 3 minutes ago
A man who turned his Llanelli home into what a judge called a “corner shop” for drugs has been sentenced to more than three years in prison – while the woman who helped him run the operation was spared jail.
Leon James, 25, of Corporation Avenue, Llanelli, was handed 40 months behind bars at Swansea Crown Court after admitting a string of drug supply offences. His co-defendant and housemate Rainee Blake, 24, of the same address, received a two-year suspended sentence for her part in the enterprise.
The raid
Officers carried out a warrant at the couple’s Corporation Avenue address on April 15. Prosecutor Abul Hussain told the court that a search of the property uncovered a dozen wraps of cocaine inside a magnetic metal box, with the drug later found to be 77 per cent pure. Cannabis, £885 in cash from James’ wallet, and multiple mobile phones were also recovered.
Phone evidence
When the seized handsets were examined, investigators discovered a web of messages between James and Blake as well as exchanges with external contacts. Those communications included price lists for a variety of Class A and Class B drugs, laying bare the scope of their dealing.
Criminal history
For James, it was the second time he had been caught supplying Class A substances. In April 2022, he was sentenced to three years in a young offenders institution after he and a fellow dealer, Levi White-John, booked a room at a Swansea city centre hotel to sell drugs on the streets. The pair were rumbled almost immediately by plain-clothes officers.
Upon his arrest in the SA1 docklands development, James asked an officer: “How did you get us so quick? We were only in Swansea two days.”
He has 12 previous convictions for 21 offences including assault occasioning actual bodily harm and simple possession of cocaine and cannabis. Blake, by contrast, has no previous convictions.
Defence arguments
Hannah George, representing James, said her client had left school at the age of 12 and had “struggled with drug misuse throughout his life”. She said James had been making positive use of his time on remand and had secured employment in the prison laundry, adding that he was a relatively young man with “emerging maturity” who would “hopefully put this behind him”.
Stuart John, acting for Blake, told the court that while his client had known her actions were against the law, she had not fully understood the gravity of what she was involved in or the impact it would have on her and her family. He said Blake had stopped using drugs and was driven to turn her life around by a desire to care for her six-year-old daughter. She “wants to make amends” for what she had done, Mr John said, and he asked the court to consider a sentence short of immediate imprisonment.
Sentencing
Judge Geraint Walters said the pair had been caught red-handed “running some sort of corner shop” for drugs. He described Blake as having been an “understudy” to James throughout the operation.
James had pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply, being concerned in the supply of cocaine, possessing cannabis with intent to supply, being concerned in the supply of cannabis, and possession of criminal property in the form of cash. After a one-third reduction for his guilty plea, he was sentenced to 40 months in prison. He will serve up to half that term in custody before being released on licence to complete the remainder in the community.
The judge issued a stark warning that if James were to be caught dealing Class A drugs for a third time, the starting point for his sentence would be seven years.
Turning to Blake, Judge Walters acknowledged that sentencing her was a more difficult proposition. He said he could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people involved in Class A dealing whom he had not sent straight to prison, but that the law required him not to impose custody where there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.
Blake, who had admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine, cannabis, ketamine, and ecstasy, was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years. She was also ordered to complete a rehabilitation course, carry out 180 hours of unpaid work, and comply with a 90-day alcohol abstinence requirement.
