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POLICE RECOVERED THE STASH AFTER MARK BRISKHAM ASKED TO GO TO THE TOILET 02:00, 01 Jun 2025 A "mule" was caught with £1,600 of heroin hidden inside his body, a court has heard.

Mark Briskham and another man had driven from west Wales to Swansea to buy the drug but their car was intercepted by police on the return journey. The 52-year-old refused to undergo a body

scan in hospital but later passed a package containing 12g heroin. Swansea Crown Court heard Briskham has 112 previous offences on his record and a judge said it was evident from reading the

defendant's pre-sentence report that he is somebody who "wants to manipulate situations to take as much from society as possible without giving back". Caitlin Brazel,

prosecuting, told the court that on the morning of June 8 last year the defendant and another male drove from Pembrokeshire to Swansea to collect a quantity of diamorphine, also known as

heroin. On the return journey their car was stopped by police on the A477 at Llanteg. The court heard that the car and the occupants were searched but no drugs were found. However, police

believed the men may have concealed drugs internally so they were taken to Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest to be scanned. The prosecutor said the scan of passenger was negative but

Briskham refused to be scanned. The defendant was taken to a police station where he was kept under supervision until he asked to use the toilet. The prosecutor said Briskham then defecated

and passed a package containing 12.7g of heroin worth around £1,600 on the streets. _For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter_ Mark Anthony Briskham, of Wavell Crescent,

Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, had previously pleaded guilty on the day of trial to possession of heroin with intent to supply. The plea was entered on the bases that it had been the

passenger of the car who had bought the drugs, and the defendant accepted buying clingfilm to wrap the drugs and then concealing them in his rectum. He said he was going to give the package

to his passenger at the end of journey and, in turn, would be given 7g of the heroin for his own use. The court heard the plea was acceptable to the prosecution. Article continues below The

defendant has 35 previous convictions for 112 offences including possession of ecstasy with intent supply for which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Read about a heroin dealer who

has apologised for the "demons" he has created in users Joh Tarrant, for Briskham, said the defendant had a young child with his current partner and three other dependant children

and had "other obligations" that he should be attending to rather than involving himself in the kind of offending before the court. He said there had been a significant gap in the

defendant's offending and said that being held on remand as a 52-year-old, Briskham had found himself "a man amongst boys" in prison. Judge Geraint Walters said Briskham had

been acting as a drugs "mule" and he told the defendant he had "played cat and mouse" with the police following his arrest and then had tried to "brazen it out"

and did not plead guilty to possession with intent until the morning of his trial. Article continues below He said he had read the pre-sentence report on Briskham and he noted the defendant

had a young child with his brother's widow and was in receipt of "significant amounts of state benefits", and said it seems he "wants to manipulate situations to take as

much from society as possible without giving back". He said though in recent years it appeared the defendant had taken steps to turn his life around, he did not think there was a

realistic prospect of rehabilitation at the present time. The judge said amongst all Class A drugs, heroin was "the most harmful of them all" and said "engaging in the

activity of supplying it has to be treated as a serious matter". With a 20 per cent discount for his guilty plea - a discount the judge said was "quite frankly generous" - the

defendant was sentenced to 16 months in prison. The judge said defendants were automatically entitled to be released on licence half-way through their sentences but said under current

arrangements it may be that Briskham is released before that point. The court heard that the defendant had spent 165 on a qualifying tag which will count against the sentence.