A TANYGRISIAU man has been jailed for 28 months after being described by a judge as a “prolific street dealer of a cocktail of different drugs”.

Judge Niclas Parry said that Blaenau Ffestiniog was an area of north Wales blighted by the supply of drugs.

Darren Jones, aged 34, of Hafan Deg, admitted four charges of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply and of possessing Class B drugs.

The judge at Caernarfon Crown Court was told last Thursday the drugs included 26 bags of cocaine and three quarters of an ounce of uncut cocaine of high purity.

At his home were also scales and text messages, some in Welsh, indicative of street dealing.

He was a drugs user “who had drifted into supply.”

The value of the drugs, at street level, was put at up to £3,750.

The judge heard police executed a search warrant on a house in the town in January and a quantity of white powder, later found to be cocaine, and cannabis was found along with £690 in cash.

A further search found a number of bags of cannabis, cocaine at a high purity, 47 ecstasy tablets and other drugs.

Prosecuting, Emmalyne Downing, described plastic bags and scales which were also seized along with a mobile phone. “The phone was analysed and a number of text messages were found,” the court heard.

“These were indicative of dealing drugs at a street level. Many of them were in Welsh.”

The judge said they contained “standard street dealing slang terms” for drugs.

Defence barrister Simon Mintz said Jones was “a user who had drifted into dealing”.

Urging the court to take into account Jones’s early guilty plea and his frank admissions Mr Mintz added: “He has no relevant convictions and has not sought to waste the court’s time.

“He is sorry for being so foolish.”

A destruction order was made for the drugs and drugs paraphernalia.