A MOTHER caught selling heroin to an undercover police officer in a skatepark, and later found to have a credit card “adapted as a knife”, has been jailed.
Victoria Fender was snared as part of Operation Dynamic – a major Gwent Police exercise involving around 180 specialist officers following a series of dawn raids across the force area during the summer.
The defendant was a “gofer” for a drug dealer called Leah Sterry, of Longfellow Gardens, Graig-y-Rhacca, Caerphilly, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
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The 30-year-old Sterry pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying heroin after selling £30 and £20 bags and was jailed for two years and eight months earlier this year.
At a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court this week, Fender, aged 46, of Keble Court, Graig-y-Rhacca, was sent to prison for two years and four months.
The drug user admitted possessing heroin with intent to supply.
Jason Howells, prosecuting, said Fender had arranged to meet a potential customer who turned out to be the undercover officer at a skatepark in Graig-y-Rhacca.
The court heard the deal for a small £20 bag of heroin, with a purity of 33 per cent, took place on the afternoon of Thursday, March 14, at a time when children were getting ready to leave a nearby school at the end of the day.
The transaction was completed close to a playground and community centre.
Mr Howells said Fender was arrested in July as part of the Operation Dynamic exercise and was found to have the credit card “adapted as a knife” in her purse when she was taken to a police station.
The defendant also admitted possessing a bladed article.
The court was told she only had one previous conviction for making threats to kill in 2007.
Nik Strobl, mitigating, said on Fender’s behalf: “Her guilty plea was entered at the first opportunity and she has been assessed as posing a low risk of reoffending.
“There is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”
But Judge Nicola Jones told the defendant her offending was so serious that she had to impose an immediate custodial sentence.
She said: “You were essentially a gofer but there was some gain. You were promised four lines if you assisted.”
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