Alfie Phillips (Image: Gwent Police)
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A 26-year-old man with two previous drug convictions has been imprisoned after once again admitting his involvement in supplying class A drugs in Newport.
Alfie Phillips, of Victoria Avenue, was sentenced to five years and 219 days at Cardiff Crown Court after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine.
Previous convictions
Phillips’ offending history stretches back almost a decade. As a teenager in 2017, he was given a 24-month detention and training order by the youth court for supplying heroin.
His second conviction came in June 2022, when Newport Crown Court handed him a six-year prison sentence. On that occasion, he had taken control of a drugs line after the person previously running it was arrested.
Gwent Police had raided his then-home at Ringwood Place, Newport, on October 11, 2021, and discovered a phone connected to the operation. Prosecutor Ieuan Rees told the court the device “contained a significant amount of drugs offering for sale heroin and cocaine.”
Phillips had been operating as a street dealer between July and September 2021, the court heard.
Sentencing him at the time, Judge Richard Williams said: “Your house was searched on October 11, 2021. Data from a mobile phone found during that search betrayed your role as a drug dealer dealing both cocaine and heroin. You had taken over operation of a drugs line following the arrest of a person previously operating it. The drugs offences appear to have been committed whilst you were on bail.”
The group attack
That bail related to a violent assault on Joshua Watkins in Newport in May 2019, for which Phillips was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The court heard the victim was “repeatedly punched, kicked and stamped on,” suffering bruising, facial injuries and a broken nose.
Judge Williams told Phillips: “There were up to nine of you in the group that you were part of although not all of them took part in the attack and he had bruising, facial injuries and his nose was broken as a result. Your culpability is high because you led the group activity.”
Latest offences
Despite his previous stints behind bars, Phillips returned to dealing. Prosecutor Rose Glanville told Cardiff Crown Court he had been involved in the supply of heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine over a five-month window between November 21 last year and April 21.
Items seized
During their investigation, Gwent Police recovered several items which the court ordered to be forfeited and destroyed. They included a damaged iPhone, a burner phone, a second mobile phone, a counterfeit £20 note, and a crossbow with arrows.
Sentencing
Judge Paul Hobson imposed a sentence of five years and 219 days’ imprisonment. Phillips was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £228.
He had additionally been charged with assaulting a police officer in Newport but entered a not guilty plea. That count will remain on file.
