THESE 18 defendants from across west Wales have been put behind bars in the month of July.
The criminals faced charges including being involved in supplying cocaine, cannabis, heroin, MDMA and amphetamine across the region, wounding with intent relating to a knife and bleach attack, rape, domestic abuse, having a knife at a hospital, and attempting to causing grievous bodily harm with intent after running over a woman’s ex-partner in a jealous rampage.
The defendants have been jailed for a total of around 68 years.
Here’s a round-up of their cases.
Kathryn Llewellyn and Teresa Morgan-Peters
Kathryn Llewellyn and Teresa Morgan-Peters were found guilty on April 28 after a trial of the masked attack on Pen-Y-Bryn in Ystradgynlais in the early hours of November 1 last year.
During the trial, the jury heard that the victim had messaged Llewellyn’s partner, after she heard Llewellyn had been posting about her on social media.
Llewellyn went over to Morgan-Peters’ home – which was “around 150 yards” from the victim’s – and the pair drank together on the evening of October 31.
The victim reported having eight phone calls from a withheld number that night between 1.13am and 1.29am – some being silent and some were “like clowns cackling”. They were later found to be from Morgan-Peters’ phone.
Llewellyn and Morgan-Peters went to the victim’s home, both wearing masks, and the door was unlocked. Llewellyn, 43, of Golwg y Mynydd in Godrergraig, attacked her with a Stanley knife and Morgan-Peters, 45, of Dolfain in Ystradgynlais, threw bleach at her.
The victim suffered multiple severe knife wounds, and was taken to hospital after she escaped to a neighbour’s home.
Judge Geraint Walters said: “I have not a shadow of a doubt that, on the evidence I have heard, that the intent was to do even greater damage.”
Both women were jailed for 10 years for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, burglary, and Llewellyn for having the Stanley knife, and Morgan-Peters for having a lock knife which police found in her car.
The victim was granted an indefinite restraining order against both defendants.
Dafydd Rees
Dafydd Rees, 38, of College Street, Ammanford, appeared before Judge Geraint Walters for sentence after he was found guilty by a jury of raping a child under 13 on six separate occasions and of indecently assaulting the same child.
The offences took place between October 1, 1998 and August 5, 2000 when Rees was aged 15. His victim was aged 11 or 12.
Rees was sentenced to 12 months in custody and was placed on the sex offenders’ register.
“When it first happened I felt scared, upset and disgusted, and I knew it was wrong,” his victim said via a statement read out to the court.
“I wanted to speak to someone, but I was worried because I thought I’d get into trouble.
“When my son approached the age that I was when I was abused, I was worried about him getting into a similar situation.”
Stephen Leyson, Samson Leyson, Andrew Jenkins and Ritchie Coleman
Four members of a large-scale drug gang operating out of a Carmarthenshire farm were jailed for a combined 20 years.
Police raided the Leyson’s address – Pibwr Farm, near Capel Dewi – in the early hours of October 27, 2021, and recovered cannabis worth around £15,615 stashed in the bathroom, a nearby field and in a dog shed.
While on a break, a police dog also caught the scent of a plastic bag filled with cocaine which was hidden in a bush. This was worth around £60,000. Officers also recovered £17,190 in cash and a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.
Stephen Leyson and his wife Lynne – who failed to attend the sentencing hearing – were arrested.
Forensic tests were carried out, and on November 29 last year, police raided the farm again and arrested the Leysons and Andrew Jenkins, while Ritchie Coleman – who was linked to the gang by the forensics – and Emma Calver-Roberts – who was found to have drug-related messages on her phone – were arrested in a raid at Vetch Close in Pembroke.
Stephen Leyson, 55, was jailed for a total of 11 years for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis, possession of the firearm, and possession of criminal property.
24-year-old Samson Leyson, was handed a six-year sentence for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.
Coleman, 33, was jailed for two years and four months to conspiracy to supply cocaine, and for conspiracy to supply cannabis.
Jenkins, 51, of North Hill Road in Mount Pleasant, was jailed for nine months for conspiracy to supply cannabis. He has been in prison since the start of December, so was released and will serve the rest of his sentence on licence in the community.
Steven Cole and Shane Lovell
Shane Lovell and Steven Cole, both of Milford Haven, were jailed for supplying heroin and cocaine across Pembrokeshire.
Cole, of Plas Peregrine, was stopped by police officers near Robeston Wathen on December 6, with Lovell, of Cromwell Road, in the back seat.
They were both searched. Lovell had two wraps of heroin and 0.86 grams of cocaine on him – as well as a further 3.23 grams of heroin stashed in his anus. Officers discovered 0.3 grams of cannabis at Cole’s home.
Messages showing the pair’s involvement in drug dealing was found on both their mobile phones – with Lovell supplying cocaine and heroin between February and December 2022 and Cole acting as a “middle man”.
Lovell pleaded guilty to possessing heroin with intent to supply, possessing cocaine with intent to supply and two additional charges of supplying heroin and cocaine.
Cole admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine and possessing cannabis.
Judge Geraint Walters sentenced Lovell to three years and six months in prison and Cole was jailed for two years and three months.
Carwyn Matthews
Domestic abuser Carwyn Matthews was jailed after breaching a restraining order and assaulting his former partner while serving a suspended sentence order.
Last December 23, Matthews showed up at his ex-partner’s home and “emotionally manipulated” her in to allowing him to stay over Christmas.
However, by the New Year, he had become increasingly demanding and argumentative.
After he had momentarily left the house on New Year’s Day, the complainant tried to lock him out, but he managed to get his foot in the door to stop it closing.
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A neighbour reported that he had heard the pair arguing, and called the police after he saw Matthews’ “right hand lunging towards the complainant’s face” and pushing his way inside the house.
Matthews left the address and ran away when he heard the police sirens, but was arrested the next day.
The defendant later pleaded guilty to breaching a restraining order and using violence to secure entry to a property, as well as an alternative charge of battery.
Judge Paul Thomas jailed Matthews, 43, of Heol Dderwen in Llanelli, for a total of eight months, and made him the subject of a five-year restraining order.
Andrew Mann
Andrew Mann, 28, of Old Heath Road in Wolverhampton, was jailed for a total of eight years after running over a man and admitting a series of drug offences.
On April 15, 2020, Mann asked a woman out on a date. She rejected him, saying she was still in love with her ex-partner.
Mann showed up outside the house she was at in Pembroke Dock, and showed her friend he had a knife in his car. He told her he would kill her ex-partner, then himself.
He drove to ex-partner’s home in Milford Haven, but he wasn’t in. He was alerted to Mann’s intentions, and came back armed with a wrench.
Mann ran him over, fracturing his tibia and fibula, before continuing to drive through a wooden fence, a garden, and a partial fence, causing £1,374.16 in damage.
He was arrested in Johnston after his car broke down.
Mann also faced a series of charges as part of a drugs gang based in Haverfordwest.
He was found to be in possession of 48.29 grams of cocaine – valued at £6,035, £125.20 in cash, and 1.66 grams of MDMA when the car he was in was stopped on the A40 on July 20, 2020.
When officers searched his home, they found £32,280 in counterfeit cash, 19.27 grams of MDMA, 1,847 grams of amphetamine – worth around £20,430, a further 53 grams of amphetamine mixed with MDMA, around 64.1 grams of cannabis, 1,727 flualprazolam – a Class C drug – tablets, and around 500 etizolam – also a Class C drug – tablets, as well as smaller quantities of MDMA, amphetamine, and THC.
Mann pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of a knife, criminal damage, and possession with intent to supply cocaine, MDMA, amphetamine and a Class C drug, possession of cannabis and a different Class C drug, and having £32,280 in counterfeit currency notes.
Jesse Nicholson
Jesse Nicholson was released on Friday, June 9 after he was handed an eight-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, for breaching a restraining order and assaulting two special constables.
But at around 10am the following Monday, Nicholson went in to the Sainsbury’s store on Upper Park Road, which he was banned from, and picked up a bottle of gin and walked out the store, the prosecution said.
The court heard that police were called that day following a report of a drunk man hiding in a bush and shouting and swearing in Tenby town centre.
Officers attended Nicholson’s address and he was “clearly intoxicated”, and a bottle of gin matching the one stolen from Sainsburys was also there. Nicholson admitted the shouting was him.
The defendant, 44, of Queensfield in Tenby, pleaded guilty to the offences.
Robert Parker
Robert Parker has been jailed after admitting having a knife and cannabis on him at Withybush Hospital.
Parker, 40, also admitted a charge of battery against a woman in Haverfordwest on February 10.
The court heard Parker was arguing with his partner on Picton Place, stopping her from walking away by “getting in her face and shouting at her” before he “jabbed” her in the stomach. He was arrested after he began “pushing and shoving” her at Castle Square.
When he was released on bail, Parker attended Withybush Hospital on February 17 seeking urgent mental health support.
A police officer who was at the A&E department on an unrelated matter was called in to accompany the defendant.
He told the officer he “wanted to be honest” and took a silver butterfly knife from his sock, and admitted to having cannabis on him.
Parker said he was homeless and had been sleeping in a tent and that he had the knife “for practical purposes” and not for a “more sinister reason”.
He was jailed for 12 months for possessing the knife, and an additional two months for the assault. He received no separate penalty for the cannabis possession.
Richard Thomas
Drug dealer Richard Thomas was sent to prison after being busted twice in six weeks.
Police raided Thomas’ address on Heol Y Garreg Las in Llandeilo on May 3. Inside, Thomas was sat next to two bags of cocaine – totalling six grams and worth up to £800 – and had £860 in cash next to him, with another £335 out on the living room table.
He claimed to have only been at the address to buy a car – which was why he had the cash – and that the drugs were for his personal use.
His phone was seized, and it was later found that messages showed he had been dealing cocaine and cannabis back to August 2022.
At just before 9pm on June 13, police stopped a car driving on Pontamman Road in Ammanford. There was three people inside – one of whom was Thomas.
As the vehicle was searched, the officers noticed Thomas fiddling with his waistband and underwear. They discovered he had discarded a bag of 28.7 grams of cocaine – worth a potential £3,600 – behind him.
Thomas’ phone revealed he had resumed dealing almost immediately after he had been released under investigation for the previous offences.
Judge Paul Thomas jailed Thomas, 42, now of Bryncethin Road in Garnant, for a total of five and a half years.
George McBeth
George McBeth, 28, of Middle Hill in Saudersfoot, strangled and harassed a woman, and pushed a child during what his barrister called “a very unpleasant incident”.
He verbally abused the complainant at an address in Pembroke Dock on February 28, and when she walked off, he followed her, pushing his way through the door, and threatening to smash the TVs in her house. He also grabbed her phone and threw it across the room.
As McBeth grabbed the complainant by the throat, a young girl tried to stop him. He pushed her away, scratching her.
The police were called but McBeth had left the address before they arrived. He was arrested on March 2.
When interviewed, McBeth said the complainant had started hitting him, and denied at any point putting his hands on her neck or pushing the girl. He also denied throwing the complainant’s phone.
Although banned from contacting the woman, McBeth continued to do so through third parties, and even went and waited for her outside the nursery that one of her children attended.
McBeth appeared at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on July 18, pleading not guilty to all charges. However, he was found guilty.
Recorder Neil Owen-Casey jailed McBeth for 33 months for intentional strangulation, harassment, and two charges of assault by beating. The complainant was granted a five-year restraining order.
Zack High
Zack High, 24, of Bush Street in Pembroke Dock, was jailed for 14 months after admitting dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, and breaching a community order.
High had been disqualified on May 19 for drug driving, but only a week later – on May 26 – he got back behind the wheel.
He was driving a Ford Focus at over 90mph on the A477, and continued to lead officers on a high speed pursuit after two of the car’s wheels were hit by a stinger.
High went round a roundabout the wrong way in to oncoming traffic, and as he went around a bend, the wheels started to smoke, and two tyres came off.
The car travelled down Mylett’s Hill and on to Golden Hill Road – driving through a red temporary traffic light – then on to Bush Hill, and Bush Street, where the officers decided to stop the chase as it was becoming too dangerous.
Other officers later found the car, which had crashed on Wavell Crescent. His DNA was recovered from the airbag.
High was found in a nearby garden hiding, and when arrested, said: ‘Where is the proof? I’ve been at my mum’s all night’.
He had been subject to a community order at the time after smashing up a car with a plank of wood at a house in Pembroke Dock on October 9.
Shaun Smith
Sex offender Shaun Smith had been jailed for 15 months and made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order on December 20, 2018, for attempting to meet a girl under 16 years of age following grooming and attempting to cause a female to engage in sexual activity without consent.
As part of his sexual harm prevention order, Smith was not allowed to delete any history on his devices that were connected to the internet.
However, on June 29 when two officers visited his home – on Park Street in Ammanford – to conduct a risk assessment, he admitted he had deleted the Telegram app.
Smith, 57, said he had been “talking to a woman” on the app and via a third-party explicit website, but then deleted the app and its history – because “someone was trying to scam [him]”.
Smith, who had already breached the order twice before, was jailed for one year.
Amy Woolston
Amy Woolston, 19, of Plas Peregrine, Milford Haven, has been jailed for several attacks on a man and on emergency workers.
She admitted two charges of assault by beating of an emergency worker against two different police officers in King Edward Street, Whitland, on June 1, and an offence of assault by beating of a paramedic in Ammanford on June 10. One of the charges included biting.
She also admitted six charges of assault by beating of a man in the Carmarthenshire area on April 3, May 27, June 1, June 2 and June 10. She also admitted a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against the same victim on May 31.
She was jailed for a total of 14 weeks due to repeated domestic violence and assaulting emergency workers, and was ordered to pay £50 compensation for each of the assaulting emergency worker charges and £85 costs.
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