The jury in the case of a Cardigan father of four, accused of possessing heroin with an intent to supply has retired to consider its verdict.

Daniel Meyler, 42, of Williams Terrace, Cardigan has admitted possessing 11.7 grammes of heroin and possessing cannabis with an intent to supply.

However, he maintains that the drugs found in his possession on October 16 this year were for his own personal use.

Father of four Meyler, who has been using heroin 14 was found with 11.7 grammes of heroin when stopped by police.

He said that he had paid around £300 for what he thought was 14 grammes of the drug, which had a purity of 26 percent and street value, if sold in smaller amounts, of £1,460.

Meyler took half a gramme in an alley after he bought the drugs before ‘pluggin’ the rest, meaning he concealed them in his rectum.

The prosecution alleged that Meyler had bought the drugs at wholesale prices in order to sell them at double or even triple that in rural areas around his home town of Cardigan.

Miss Jones for the Crown said that Meyler, who admitted being addicted and taking between half a gramme and two grammes a day in order to be able to function and go to work, would bulk buy heroin in Newport Gwent, use some himself and sell the rest in order to fund his habit.

She referred to automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) records between August and October 2021 which showed that Meyler’s vehicle had been to Newport on ten occasions.

Text messages which the prosecution said correlated to these journeys had reference to ‘b’ which can refer to ‘brown’ the slang word for heroin.

There were also references to ‘citric’ said to be the citric acid used by heroin users to cut the drug, ‘patterned up’ which means to have a deal set up and various measures of drugs.

Meyler said that all the texts referred to his cannabis dealing, which he said he carried out in order to fund his heroin habit.

A police drug expert called by the prosecution said that ‘b’ could also refer to bud which would mean cannabis bud.

Ashanti Jade Walton, defending, said that Meyler had purchased heroin in bulk for his own personal use during the Covid pandemic after problems with his Subutex prescription.

He had been used heroin since his teens and that he called it a ‘horrendous drug’ that had ‘ruined his life’.

He said that he would never supply it for these reasons and would only ever consider giving it to a friend if they were in agony, but that he had no intention of doing so.

He said he wouldn’t sell heroin to his worst enemy.

Meyler said he was a functioning heroin addict who took the drug during the day in order to go to work as a carpenter and a gardener.

He had been five years clean and was taking Subutex, which is used to treat heroin addiction. However, there had been a problem with his prescription which could not be renewed for two months, and that he had bulk bought heroin to keep him going during this time.

He said that he had bought in Newport as it was much cheaper that in Cardigan or Carmarthen and had taken five trips to Newport during this time, however only three were to buy drugs. He had also leant his car to other people during that time.

The jury is not expected to return until late afternoon today (Friday, March 31).