Village postmistress sold cocaine alongside envelopes and stamps
A postmistress became known as ‘Deirdre the Dealer’ after she started selling cocaine on the side.
Deirdre Jenkins, 45, sold the drugs to friends and regular customers at her post office in rural west Wales, alongside the usual stock of stamps and envelopes.
She operated her business by allowing some to have the drugs on credit, even giving £3,000 of Class A cocaine ‘on tick’ to one customer.
But mum-of-two Jenkins was caught out after she refused to give more cocaine to some users unless they paid upfront.
Unhappy, they went to the police and blew the whistle, a court heard.
Jenkins was caught after villagers in Parcllyn, near Cardigan, told police of their suspicions.
Prosecutor Jim Davis said: ‘Police executed a search warrant following receipt of information from local residents’.
Mr Davis told Swansea Crown Court police found three wraps of cocaine in her handbag and eight grams of the class A drug hidden in a cupboard in her bedroom.
There was also £1,200 in cash in her house which neighboured her Londis store and post office.
Mr Davis said an examination of Jenkins’ mobile telephone revealed numerous messages related to drugs deals. One showed that a single customer owed her £3,000.
Mr Davis said: ‘It appeared that Jenkins had become fed up of giving customers cocaine “on tick” and had told some to go to other dealers.’
Police were then tipped off about ‘Deidre the Dealer’ who raided her post office in December 2019.
Jenkins pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply.
Ian Ibrahim, defending, said she had lost her shop and been declared bankrupt since her arrest.
He said Jenkins had started selling drugs after she ‘relapsed back into drug use’ herself.
Judge Catherine Richards told Jenkins she ‘enjoyed the status’ of being a drug dealer to her friends.
Judge Richards said anyone dealing in a Class A drug such as cocaine deserved to go to prison, partly because of the tremendous harm caused to communities they lived in and dealt in.
But there had been a considerable delay between her arrest and sentencing partly because of the backlog of cases due to coronavirus.
Jenkins was handed a two year suspended sentence and ordered to complete a rehabilitation course.
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