A CAERPHILLY man has been handed a community order, after an incident aboard a train at a Gwent railway station.

Lee Hughes has been required to carry out rehabilitation activities after pleading guilty to one count of possessing cocaine, and one count of using threatening or abuse language with the intention of causing harassment, alarm or distress.

Both incidents took place at Ystrad Mynach Railway Station on August 10, 2021.

Firstly, on a train approaching the station, the 38-year-old was said to have threatened or abused his victim, in an act which the court described as being “motivated by hostility towards his victim’s sexual orientation.”

Later, the British Transport Police detained Hughes at the station itself, finding that he was in possession of a quantity of a Class A controlled substance – cocaine.

It has been confirmed that the cocaine was both seized, and later destroyed.

Appearing before Mid Wales Magistrates Court in Merthyr Tydfil, Hughes, of Sycamore Court, Bargoed, pleaded guilty to both charges.

His guilty pleas were taken into account when the sentences were handed down.

For his crimes, Hughes has been handed a community order, and is required to carry out rehabilitation activities, including attending appointments, up to a maximum of 15 days.

He was also fined £210, made to pay a £95 surcharge to fund victim services, and ordered to pay costs of £85 to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Hughes’s balance stands at £390, and it was agreed with the court that this would be paid off at a rate of £10 per fortnight.