A “wholesale” supplier of cocaine was caught after one of his dealers was arrested after picking up a stash of the drug from him, a court has heard. Text messages showed Jay Hume was keen to expand his business by recruiting new dealers to the business, with talk of taking on a named individual after he left prison.
The 26-year-old’s advocate said his client had become involved in dealing the Class A drug for financial reasons and had been “blinded by the prospect of making easy money” without giving any real thought to the consequences. Sending Hume to prison for six years a judge told him cocaine causes misery to users who quickly become addicted to it, and leads to further criminality as addicts commit crime to fund their habit.
Matt Murphy, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on June 7 this year police in Swansea arrested a suspected drug dealer and found him in possession of 14g of cocaine. The man’s phone was seized and examined, and messages between the man and Hume relating to the buying and selling of cocaine were found. One of the exchanges, which took place just 90 minutes before the arrest, was about the man collecting 14g of coke from the defendant.
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The court heard it became apparent from the messages that Hume was an “upstream supplier” who was buying cocaine in quantities of 252g at a time and then supplying the drug to his associate for dealing on the streets. The prosecutor said it was also clear from the messages that Hume was looking to “expand” the business with him referring to a number of named individuals who he would like to join the operation, including one who was due to be released from prison.
Following the examination of the phone and its contents police arrested Hume on June 26 and searched his property recovering two mobiles. The defendant refused to reveal his PINs but on the lock screen of his iPhone officers could see a number of messages about sums of money people owed him. Officers also found a so-called “tick list”. The defendant subsequently answered “no comment” to all questions asked in interview.
Jay Adam Hume, of West Cross Avenue, West Cross, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has one previous conviction for one offence, namely possession of cannabis with intent to supply from August 2022. Hume was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for 24 months for the cannabis dealing offence and was subject to that order when he began dealing cocaine.
Dan Griffiths, for Hume, said it was accepted that a term of immediate custody was inevitable in the case. He said the defendant’s motivation for getting involved in cocaine dealing was purely financial and he had been “blinded by the prospect of making easy money” without giving any real thought to the consequences or the impact on his future. The advocate said Hume realised he had let himself down and let his family down.
Recorder Greg Bull KC told Hume cocaine causes misery to users who quickly become addicted to it and leads to further criminality as addicts commit crime to fund their habit which was why parliament and courts treated the supply of the drug so seriously. He said it was clear the defendant had been dealing on a “wholesale basis” and had a leading role in the operation.
With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Hume was sentenced to six years in prison, and the judge activated four months of the previously imposed cannabis sentence to run concurrently. The defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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