A CARMARTHENSHIRE drug dealer told officers they could have caught him growing cannabis if they had raided his home a week earlier.

Swansea Crown Court heard that police raided an address in Pontyberem belonging to Sean Williams on April 20, 2021.

“A variety of quantities of cannabis were seized,” said prosecutor Ian Wright.

This included one 478-gram stash, 6.35 grams in a cup in the kitchen, a further three bags in the kitchen containing just over 10 grams between them, and a further 1929 grams split across another three bags.

In total, police recovered 2.423kg of cannabis from the address.

Officers also found 2.53 grams of cocaine in the same cup in the kitchen as the cannabis, and 16 boxes of Diazepam tablets.

Mr Wright said the overall street value of the cannabis was “up to £27,000”.

A total of £5,345 in cash was also seized having been hidden in the bedroom, the kitchen, a box in the kitchen, and in the living room.

There was also drugs paraphernalia throughout the house, and equipment used for growing cannabis.

As he was arrested, Williams said to the officers: “If you came a week earlier you would’ve caught me growing it”.

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An “extensive” financial investigation showed “significant sums of money” going in and out of the defendant’s bank account, Mr Wright said. Williams denied these were drug-related.

Mr Wright said the delay in the case had been due to the defendant not providing the PIN to his mobile phone, meaning it had to be sent for external examination, while the financial investigation also took “some time”.

Matthew Murphy, defending, said: “In the time since his apprehension for these offences Mr Williams has turned his life around.

“This defendant has moved away from the previous lifestyle he had. He doesn’t want any contact with that underworld, and seeks to be a positive impact on his community as a whole.”

Mr Murphy said that should Williams be sent to prison, the vehicle recovery business he had since set up would “cease to exist”. This, he said, would severely impact the defendant’s family.

“He and his partner provide for a total of eight children,” Mr Murphy added.

Williams, 28, now of Ger Ty Mawr in Carway, admitted the charges.

The judge, Recorder Christian Jowett, sentenced Williams to 22 months, suspended for 18 months, for possession with intent to supply cannabis.

He also received concurrent 24-week and eight-week sentences, also suspended, for possession of cocaine and possession of the Diazepam tablets.

Williams must complete 150 hours of unpaid work and the Thinking Skills programme, and 15 days of rehabilitation requirement.