A Cardigan dad who has been taking heroin since his early teens has been sentenced to more than four years in jail for supplying the drug.

Daniel Meyler drove to Newport Gwent on October 16 2021 and bought 11.7 grammes of the Class A drug before secreting it in his rectum and driving home to sell it.

A jury at Swansea Crown Court unanimously found Daniel Meyler, 42, formerly of Williams Terrace, Cardigan guilty after a three-day trial.

Meyler admitted possessing 11.7 grammes of heroin and supplying cannabis.

However he denied having an intention to deal the heroin, saying that it was for his personal use and bought to allow him to function until he was able to get a Subutex percription.

The jury heard that Meyler’s car had taken 10 trips from Cardigan to Newport Gwent between August and October 2021.

Texts sent from his phone at times around those trips referred to ‘B’, said to be ‘brown, which is slang for heroin.

There were also references to ‘citric’ said to be the citric acid used by heroin users to cut the drug, ‘patterned up’ which means to have a deal set up, as well as various measures of drugs.

When police stopped Meyler’s vehicle on the way back from Newport to Cardigan he had 11.7 grammes of heroin secreted in his person.

Police suspected that this was to be sold on in the Cardigan area but Meyler maintained that it was for personal use.

The father of six, who has been using heroin since the age of 14, said that he had paid around £300 for what he thought was 14 grammes of the drug, which had a purity of 26 percent and street value, if sold in smaller amounts, of £1,460.

Meyler took half a gramme in an alley after he bought the drugs before ‘plugging’ the rest, meaning he concealed the heroin in his rectum.

During the trial he maintained that had purchased heroin in bulk for his own personal use during the Covid pandemic after problems with his Subutex prescription and had sold cannabis to fund this.

However, after just over two hours of deliberation, the jury in the trial came back returning an unanimous verdict of guilty.

Judge Recorder B Siddique heard that Meyler had 26 previous convictions for 59 offences, eight of these were drug related and included possession on cannabis and heroin and cultivation of cannabis.

Five offences took place between 2003 and 2008. There was then a gap until 2022. The most recent conviction was for possession of cannabis in February this year.

Ashanti-Jade Walton, defending, said that Meyler now was considerably different to Meyler in 2021.

He now cared for four of his children, two toddlers and two teens while their mother worked, he was working as a self-employed builder and he was off heroin and taking Subutex.

She said that Meyler had had a ‘crippling drug addiction for many years after heroin was forced upon him at the age of 14.

“It has plagued his life since then,” she said. “He is remorseful and says that the drug has ruined his life. He wouldn’t wish it on his worse enemy.

"This drug has stolen many years of his life. He has tried his best to make amends for the sake of his children."

Judge Siddique said that Meyler’s offending was aggravated by his previous convictions and the fact that two of the offences had been committed while he was under investigation for the heroin supply.

He jailed Meyler for four years and six months for the heroin supply with eight months for the cannabis supply to run concurrently.

Meyler will spend half of this in prison before being released on licence.