Boy, 14, was used as a slave by teen criminal

A 14-YEAR-OLD boy was exploited as a modern-day slave by a drug dealer who gave him cannabis as a reward, a court heard.

- PHILIP DEWEY Court correspondent [e-mail]

The teenager was used by dealer Tyler Barnsley, 18, to deliver drugs and accept orders on his behalf.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Barnsley, who admitted an offence of trafficking under the Modern Slavery Act 2015, had shown "no concern for the child's welfare" and was "only thinking of himself and his drug profits".

Newport Crown Court heard that cocaine and cannabis dealer Barnsley had previously been made subject to a court order preventing him from having contact with the teenager but he flouted the rules.

An investigation into his drug opera-tion, based at his grandmother's home in Tredegar, led to a raid on September 27 last year when police seized items including a total of 135g of cannabis worth more than £1,350.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard a number of phones were also seized, a brown-handled knife, and drug paraphernalia including snap bags, weighing scales and green vegetable matter.

Prior to the defendant's arrest, a package from Thailand addressed to “Nigel Thomas” at the address in Ebenezer Court, had been intercepted and was found to contain 3,080g of cannabis.