The prolific criminal left court and continued selling drugs

A drug dealer continued to sell cocaine despite appealing to the crown court and being given a suspended prison sentence for a vicious and unprovoked attack on a stranger on the street. Dylan Forbes’ deal came to light after a high-speed police chase through the streets of Swansea which led to the seizure of his phones and stash of the Class A drug.

Swansea Crown Court heard the other person in the car when it was chased and then abandoned remains at large and had fled the UK earlier this month. The border authority was put on alert for his return. Forbes has a long history of offenses including aggravated assault, extortion, threats to disclose private sexual images, harassment, assault by beating, concern over the supply of crack cocaine and three assaults resulting in actual bodily harm. When the judge sent the defendant to prison for five and a half years, he told him that as he neared his 30th birthday he would have to make a choice – either continue to commit crimes and face longer and longer prison sentences, or choose a different path in life to hit.

Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said on August 22 this year police officers on patrol in the Penlan area of ​​Swansea spotted a green Ford Fiesta on Heol Frank and asked road policing professionals to stop the vehicle. The traffic police officers then found the Ford on Fford y Brain and drove their car across the street in front of it to block its path. The prosecutor said the Fiesta turned around and sped off, after which a high-speed chase ensued through the residential streets of Penlan and Gendros before the Ford was abandoned and the occupants – the driver and Forbes, the passenger – ran away across wasteland .

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The court heard how officers recovered a phone from the discarded Fiesta and then began searching for the men, who were seen fleeing the vehicle. A National Police Air Service helicopter also joined the search operation. Forbes was subsequently arrested on Hopkins Street, Manselton, after emerging from bushes and undergrowth “with abrasions to his arms and legs”. The court heard the driver of the Ford had evaded arrest that day and remains at large. The man left the UK on September 16 and the prosecutor said the border agency was wary of his return. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here

The court heard that a search of Forbes’ home in Morriston found 10g of cocaine mixed with creatine – a substance used to enhance athletic performance and build muscle but also commonly mixed or “cut” with cocaine in street deals. – as well as a tub of creatine and a hand blender with traces of white powder. The 29-year-old defendant answered “no comment” to all questions asked during the interview and refused to reveal his phone’s PIN, but the officers were able to gain access to the device without this. The prosecutor said messages on the Forbes phone told contacts to “call the work phone,” a phone that turned out to be the burner phone left in the Fiesta when the two men went on the run. Brenner’s phone number was also found on the phone of a man arrested under the name “Dylan F” as part of a separate drug trafficking investigation in Swansea. Messages recovered from both Forbes phones revealed that he was involved in cocaine supply from March 22, 2024 until the day of his arrest.

Dylan Ashley Forbes, formerly of St Clears Place, Penlan, Swansea, but now of Crown Street, Morriston, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to supply cocaine and being concerned in the supply of cocaine when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has been convicted of 26 offenses as of 2021, including unlawful assault, extortion, harassment, threatening to disclose private sexual images, assault, three assaults causing actual bodily harm (ABH), criminal damage and being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine he became one Sentenced to 40 months in prison. One of the ABHs saw him punch a prison officer in the face and break his nose, and another case involved an attack on a former partner in which he repeatedly punched her in the face and then kicked her in the stomach. In April 2024, the defendant was given an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, for ABH after he carried out an unprovoked attack on a man at a bus stop in Neath town center. In this attack, carried out in August 2021, he grabbed a stranger by the throat and pushed him in the face before giving the victim several violent kicks to the head as he lay defenseless on the ground. Forbes then drove away in a waiting car and later called the police to taunt them. He said he knew they were looking for him and he would make it hard to find him. He wasn’t found for seven months. The judge on the occasion described the handling of the case and the three-year delay in bringing the matter to court as “disastrous”.

Forbes’ Dan Griffiths said it was acknowledged that an immediate custodial sentence was inevitable in the case. He said the defendant’s motivation for dealing cocaine was entirely financial and that his client was “seduced by the prospect of making, as he saw it, easy money”. He said in his statement that the deal was not particularly sophisticated, adding: “I cannot recall any other person who has operated a drug line under his own name.” The lawyer said the defendant’s family had his While his actions were not condoned, the defendant’s family had continued to support him and he said Forbes was determined to use his time in prison constructively and take advantage of any help offered to break the cycle of crime.

Judge Paul Hobson said Forbes had shown a complete disregard for court orders. He told the defendant that as he approached the age of 30, he would have to make a simple decision: either he could continue to commit crimes and receive longer and longer prison sentences, or he could choose a different path in life. The judge told him: “You are not too old to change.” With a quarter discount for his guilty plea, Forbes was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. The judge activated 12 months of the previously imposed 18-month presumptive ABH sentence to be extended consecutively, resulting in a total sentence of five and a half years in prison.

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