20-05-2025
'Habitual' drug dealer caught with £1,740 cash in pillowcase
Prosecutor Nik Strobl told Swansea Crown Court that police attended an address on College Park in Neyland on March 27.
A person inside was found in possession of cannabis, and Marcel Mullings was found asleep in one of the rooms.
Mullings was taken to hospital as it was suspected he had stashed drugs 'internally', Mr Strobl said.
For the latest crime and court news for west Wales, you can join our Facebook group here.
A search of the house uncovered weighing scales, £1,740 in cash hidden inside a pillowcase, snap bags, and two mobile phones which had been snapped in half and thrown behind a sofa.
Despite the damage to the phones, officers were able to establish that a SIM card linked to phone number which operated as a drugs line had been used in each of them, as well as in the defendant's personal phone.
Mullings, 23, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis and possession of criminal property.
The court heard that he had previous convictions for possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine and perverting the course of justice in October 2020 and possession with intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine in May 2023.
Mullings was out on licence from his previous sentence at the time of this latest offending.
'He is under no illusions as to the seriousness of his offending,' said Caitlin Brazel, in mitigation.
'The severity of it has now sunk in.'
Ms Brazel said Mullings' guilty pleas were evidence of his remorse and taking accountability for his offending.
She added that the defendant was 'a relatively young man' and now recognised that he faced a choice about the direction the rest of his life was going to take.
Marcel Mullings has been jailed for his involvement in trafficking cocaine and cannabis. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)
'He has spent most of his adult life dealing Class A drugs,' said Judge Huw Rees, referencing the defendant's previous convictions in the Cambridgeshire and Staffordshire areas.
'You are a habitual supplier of serious drugs which cause problems in society all over the country.
'If you carry on in this way, the sentences will increase.
'You have the benefit of youth on your side.
'You are simply wasting your youthful years in custody.'
Judge Rees sentenced Mullings to the mandatory minimum sentence of seven years, minus the defendant's discount for his guilty pleas. This totalled a 2,045-day sentence – approximately five years and eight months.
He made a forfeiture order for the £1,740 cash, and a forfeiture and destruction order for Mullings' mobile phone.
The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it would not make an application under the Proceeds of Crime Act against the defendant.
