Shaun Peters (Image: South Wales Police)
Last Updated: 2 minutes ago
A Skewen man who carried on selling cannabis months after a court gave him a chance to stay out of prison has been jailed for 36 months.
Shaun Peters, 37, of New Road, was under a suspended sentence for supplying the drug when officers arrived at his home with a search warrant this summer. He had previously admitted possession of cannabis with intent to supply and possession of criminal property, and returned to Swansea Crown Court to be sentenced.
The raid
Prosecutor Abul Hussain said the warrant was executed on July 8. Inside the property, police recovered 97g of cannabis alongside cannabis vapes and edibles. They also found cash put at somewhere between £8,000 and £10,000.
Peters’ phone was taken away for examination, and the messages on it showed he had been supplying cannabis.
A long record
The court heard Peters has eight previous convictions covering 36 offences. Twenty-one of those are drug matters, including being concerned in the supply of Class B and Class C drugs.
His most recent came in November last year, when he received 24 months in prison suspended for 18 months. That sentence was for possession of cannabis with intent to supply, possession of criminal property, and possession of Class A and Class C drugs – offending closely mirroring what he was now back in the dock for.
Defence arguments
Andrew Evans, representing Peters, said his client recognised he would be going to prison. He told the court the defendant had “misused cannabis for much of his life” and would use his time inside to make sure he came out in a better position than he went in.
Sentencing
Recorder Paul Lewis KC explained that the law required him to bring the suspended sentence into effect unless doing so would be unjust. Given the circumstances and what he described as Peters’ “superficial compliance” with the earlier order, he found no reason to hold back.
Peters was given 18 months for the new offences, reduced by a quarter to reflect his guilty pleas. The recorder then activated 18 months of the suspended term to run consecutively, taking the total to 36 months.
He will serve up to half of that in custody before being released on licence for the remainder.
