Cwmbran businesswoman caught dealing cocaine with her boyfriend

Kelly Smith, 29, owner of a firm called JK Rolling, started trafficking the class A drug with her partner Joshua Jeremiah, 33.

Their “joint enterprise” was smashed when police officers raided her home in Cwmbran in January.

Days earlier the Argus ran an appeal after Smith’s van was torched in a suspected arson attack.

Nik Strobl, prosecuting, said the couple were linked to the drug trade after detectives had investigated fellow dealers Dafydd Shipton and Michael Pugh, both 31, and Luke Edwards, 29, all from Cwmbran.

“Both defendants were involved in the supply of cocaine,” he told Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.

“Notable items seized during the raid were digital scales containing traces of cocaine upon them and a small bag of cannabis was found in the living room cupboard.

Kelly Smith’s JK Rolling business van

“Mr Jeremiah would ask for customers to transfer money into the account of Miss Smith after deals having been carried out.”

Smith, of Bronllys Place, Croesyceiliog, Cwmbran and Jeremiah, of Wall Street, Ebbw Vale admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine.

Smith had no previous convictions and Jeremiah had convictions for harassment, public disorder and criminal damage but none for drugs.

Karl Williams representing Smith said: “The money was paid into her account and she was subservient.

Smith’s van was destroyed in a suspected deliberate fire

“In her pre-sentence report, the defendant has shown a great deal of remorse and realises the impact drugs have on users and the community.

“She and her co-defendant had been in a relationship for eight years and it was full of ups and downs.”

The court was told that Smith had been running JK Rolling before her arrest.

Mr Williams added that his client’s offending had “embarrassed her family” and that she had already spent more than three months in custody at Eastwood Park prison in Gloucestershire.

Jeremiah, his barrister Hilary Roberts said, became involved in dealing after being taken advantage of by others above in the chain when he built up a drug debt.

The defendant, the court was told, had been offered a job as a bar manager by his brother who is opening a pub.

The judge, Recorder Neil Owen-Casey, told the couple: “This was a joint enterprise between you and it is abundantly clear that you had some awareness and understanding of the scale of the operation.

“But it was a fairly unsophisticated one and relied pretty much on simple text messages.”

Recorder Owen-Casey said the defendants were capable of being rehabilitated in the community.

They were both jailed for 24 months but their sentences were suspended for 24 months.

Smith and Jeremiah will have to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and a six-day rehabilitation activity requirement.