Cardiff Crown Court (Image: Wales Updates)
Last Updated: 17 September 2026
A 60-year-old who dealt crystal meth, MDMA, GHB and mephedrone to pay for his own habit has avoided an immediate prison term.
Mark Donovan, of Squires Close in Rogerstone, was handed a three-year sentence suspended for three years at Cardiff Crown Court, with a requirement to complete 10 rehabilitation activity days.
Sentencing
Recorder Caroline Rees KC accepted that Donovan’s dealing was driven by his own dependence rather than profit.
“For the vast majority of your adult life, you have stayed out of trouble,” she told him.
“You well know, as someone who is addicted to drugs yourself, the damage which dealing drugs does to society.
“I accept that you are somebody who supplied in order to fund your considerable habit.”
Stopped twice in a year
The offending came to light over a 12-month period, prosecutor Emily Jermin told the court.
Donovan was first pulled over by police on High Cross Road in Newport on 21 April 2025. Officers took methamphetamine and his phone from him, then searched his home. Across the stop and the search, police recovered 60.379 grams of crystal meth with a value of up to £4,280.
He was released under investigation, but on 10 March 2026 he was stopped again, this time on Western Avenue in Cardiff. Officers found a further 23.9 grams of the drug on him, worth £1,680.
The raid
Gwent Police then executed a search warrant at his Rogerstone address on 21 April 2026. Alongside a “range” of drugs, officers seized paraphernalia, cash and several mobile phones.
Phone evidence
When the phones were examined, messages showed Donovan had been involved in supplying crystal meth, MDMA, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and mephedrone, known as m-cat.
A drugs expert put the value of the deals referred to in those messages at more than £5,600, while noting it was “highly likely” that further transactions had taken place beyond what the phone showed.
The charges
Donovan admitted being concerned in offering to supply methylamphetamine and GHB, being concerned in the supply of ecstasy, two counts of possession with intent to supply methylamphetamine, being concerned in the supply of m-cat, and possession of m-cat and cannabis.
He has three previous convictions.
Defence arguments
Gareth Williams, mitigating, said his client’s health and circumstances had deteriorated since he stopped working.
“There’s no doubt that Mr Donovan has his own significant addiction problems,” he said.
“He has made significant strides in relation to that.”
Donovan was working with the Gwent Drug and Alcohol Service (GDAS), Mr Williams said, adding that he had kept out of trouble since 1987 but had been “living an isolated lifestyle” after giving up work and was “clearly not a man in good health”.
What happens next
Ms Jermin told the court an application would be made under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover any money Donovan made from dealing. That hearing is listed for 8 February 2027.
