A MAN who offered to sell crack cocaine was told by a judge he was still a drug dealer who was caught up in a “wicked trade”.

Richard Rees, 44, from the Blackwood area, was jailed after mobile phone evidence uncovered by detectives revealed his crime.

The defendant was linked to drug dealer Jack Cox after he was arrested.

Cox, 28, of Clos Afon Tywi, Blackwood, was jailed for 40 months last year.

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Rees had sent out text bombs to prospective clients, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

“There were a series of messages between the defendant and another person clearly demonstrating the business benefit of supplying crack cocaine,” prosecutor Byron Broadstock said.

“I will give your honour an example of one of those messages, ‘Good rocks now fella, what are you after?’”

Rees, of Hodges Crescent, Pengam, pleaded guilty to being concerned in making an offer to supply crack cocaine.

The defendant had five previous convictions for seven offences.

His latest conviction was from June 2021 for being in charge of a motor vehicle while being unfit to drive.

There were no related offences to his current conviction on his record.

Jeffrey Jones, representing Rees, said: “The defendant suffered a relapse following the death of a grandmother.”

He told the court his client had already nearly served the equivalent of an 11-month prison sentence after being remanded in custody.

Rees had been “drug free” during his time in jail.

Judge David Wynn Morgan told him: “You don’t seem to understand, even now, that those who offer to supply class A drugs are dealers and it’s a wicked trade – whatever the circumstances that place someone in that position.

“You are well able to control your behaviour.

“This is a case which, as in all cases of supply, demands a custodial sentence largely because of its deterrent effect.”

Rees was jailed for two years.