Pair ran crack cocaine operation from city flat until police looked in the toilet

A couple were using their Swansea flat to prepare and distribute crack cocaine, a court has heard. As officers approached the block people in neighbouring flats shouted out warnings of "Police! Police!" to alert others to their presence.

After forcing entry to the flat police found cocaine, drug preparation paraphrenia, and more than £700 in cash. Sending Sean Rowles and Israa Mohammed to prison, a judge at Swansea Crown Court told the couple they had been plying an "insidious drug" from their flat, a drug which brings "social decohesion injury, ill-health and even death to our communities".

Craig Jones, prosecuting, said on October 6 last year officers from the organised crime time in Swansea went Mohammed's flat on Griffiths John Street in the Waun Wen area. He said as officers approached the block people living in the blocks around them shouted out warnings of "Police! Police!" to alert others. The team forced entry to the fourth-floor flat and found Rowles standing at, but not using, the toilet in the bathroom. Behind the toilet officers found a blue rag containing 6g of cocaine. In the living room was the tenant of the flat, Mohammed, who was found to have another 1.4g of the drug hidden in her bra.

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The court heard there were traces of cocaine on the table in the living room and officers also recovered weighing scales with white powder, dozens of empty plastic wraps, "drug preparation paraphrenia", and a container of bicarbonate of soda. Phones were also seized as was Rowles' wallet which contained more than £700 in cash. The prosecutor said: "It was clear the flat was being used to prepare crack cocaine, and being used as a base to facilitate its supply". For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here

Sean Rowles, aged 27, of Heol Emrys, Penlan, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to supply, and possession of criminal property - namely £710 in cash - when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. Israa Mohammed, aged 40, of Griffith John Street, Waun Wen, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine on the basis that she would receive text messages from users requesting drugs, provide them with Rowles' details, and facilitate the supply. This plea came after Mohammed initially pleaded not guilty and went to trial, a trial which had to be abandoned part-way through after her barrister withdrew for professional reasons. The court heard Rowles has an "extensive criminal history" beginning in 2011 and including multiple dishonesty matters, assaults by beating, possession of drugs, and sex offences. Mohammed has three previous convictions including for the simple possession of cocaine.

Steve Burnell, for Rowles, said the defendant's strongest mitigation was his guilty pleas. He said it was accepted a custodial sentence was inevitable, and he said his client had family who he could go to live with upon his eventual release. Hywel Davies, for Mohammed, said the defendant had battled addiction for much of her life and experienced periods of sobriety and relapse, and said she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following physical abuse. He said after the loss of employment and the breakdown of her marriage his client had "returned to the crutch of drugs" but during her nearly nine months on remand n prison had begun to build her resilience so as to better cope with the difficulties life presents. The barrister added that Mohammed had now lost the tenancy of her Griffith John Street flat.

Judge Huw Rees told the couple they had been plying an "insidious drug" from their flat, a drug which brings "social decohesion injury, ill-health and even death to our communities" and they would now have to pay the price for their activities. With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Rowles was sentenced to 40 months in prison, and with a 10 per cent discount for her guilty plea - a discount which the judge said was an "act of mercy" on the court's part - Mohammed was sentenced to 38 months in prison. The defendants will each serve up to half their sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

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