A mum of two turned to dealing cocaine in order to pay for her late father’s funeral, a court has heard.

Delivery driver Sarah Brown was found with 2.91 grammes of 81 per cent pure cocaine, with a street value of between £250 and £300 when police apprehended her and another man at a Cross Hands petrol station in 2021.

Swansea Crown Court heard that police officers had received a tip off that a white Seat Leon, believed to be involved in the supply of drugs, was heading west along the M4 on August 9, 2021.

They located the vehicle at a filling station at Cross Hands, Brown, 28, of Yew Close, Gelligaer, Merthyr Tydfil, was standing by the vehicle with a man.

Officers searched the vehicle and the pair and found a large bag containing smaller snap bags of white powder and empty snap bags, as well as an A6 notepad containing records and a black Nokia mobile phone.

Forensic examination of the evidence revealed that the white powder was cocaine. Messages on the mobile phone indicated the supply of Class A drugs.

Analysis by the financial crime team revealed that payments into Brown’s bank account corresponded with the mobile phone schedule.

The court heard that, after providing no comment police interviews, Brown has pleaded guilty to possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply, at the first instance at Llanelli Magistrates Court.

The case against a man arrested alongside Brown had been discontinued due to lack of evidence.

John Allchurch, appearing in Brown’s defence, said that she had got into financial difficulties in early 2021 when organising and funding her father’s funeral. It had ben suggested to her that she could sell drugs to make some money.

She had sold the drugs for a limited five or six week period in the summer of 2021 in order to pay for the funeral.

It was also said that she had no previous convictions, had a strong bond with her two young children and had not committed any further offending since her arrest in 2021.

“It can be found that the involvement of the defendant during that very limited period of time was as a result of naivety, and perhaps exploitation” he added.

Judge Mr Recorder A Eardley concluded that there were no aggravating factors in the case but several mitigating ones including that fact that Brown had no previous convictions; was relatively young at the time; took to dealing due to financial problems on the death of her father; was in a relationship marred by domestic violence; did not pose a risk to society; had not reoffended and had expressed genuine remorse.

For all these reasons he considered a two-year period of custody to be sufficient and suspended this for 18 months.

Brown also has to complete a 30-day rehabilitation requirement and complete 150 hours of unpaid work within the next year.

She will have to pay a statutory surcharge but no court costs.

Judge Eardley also made a destruction order for the drugs and paraphernalia.