Boasting drug supplier who filmed himself brandishing wads of money and chunky gold jewelry as he claimed advantages on telephone is jailed
A boasting drug dealer who filmed himself waving stacks of cash while making a call to claim benefits has been jailed.
Iestyn Raven, 24, donned chunky gold necklaces and flashy jewelled bracelets as he made the call for Universal Credit, telling the operator: ‘I’m struggling for money’.
Mobile phone footage shows him laughing to camera as he sasys: ‘Obviously I haven’t had my payment and I’m obviously skint.’
The dealer can then be seen picking up a bundle of drug money and pretending to use it as a phone as he laughed to the camera.
He added: ‘I’m looking to see when the appointment is. Just struggling I am for money right now.’
A court heard Raven ran the ‘Ronnie and Reggie’ drug line to supply crack cocaine and heroin through the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales.
He was arrested on September 30 by South Wales Police, who spotted him in the passenger seat of a car at the McDonald’s drive through in Barry, after a series of other drug arrests led them to him.
Police identified Raven after he was caught on CCTV topping up data for one of the phones he used to run his drug line.
Iestyn Raven, 24, donned chunky gold necklaces and flashy jewelled bracelets as he made the call for Universal Credit, telling the operator ‘I’m struggling for money’
Mobile phone footage shows him laughing to camera as he tells the operator: ‘Obviously I haven’t had my payment and I’m obviously skint’
Raven pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin, being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine, and acquiring criminal property. He was jailed for three years and four months
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard officers raided his house in Barry before they uncovered the drug phone they were tracing in a bedside table.
They also found crack cocaine, heroin, cash and high-value designer clothing.
Raven pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin, being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine, and acquiring criminal property. He was jailed for three years and four months.
Detective Inspector Tim Jones said: ‘Iestyn Raven was making a substantial amount of money from his drug dealing and living a life of relative luxury at the expense of others.
‘His contemptuous disregard for the damage he was causing is plain to see – he certainly isn’t laughing now and he deserves to be in prison where he can reflect on the path he chose for himself and the misery he has inflicted through his drug dealing.
‘Rest assured we will be using the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure he doesn’t benefit from any ill-gotten gains when he is released.’
This is not the first time Raven has been sent to jail.
In December 2018, he was locked up for seven years after he stabbed a 17-year-old and assaulted him with a baseball bat.
His teenage victim suffered a wound to the side of his head, a stab wound to his lower back which resulted in a punctured lung, a shallow stab wound to his upper back and a broken jaw which required surgery.
In 2020, Raven escaped from HMP Prescoed in Wales after arguing with his girlfriend about cheating and because he wanted to see his father who had Covid.
He was found by police 36 hours later at a house near his father’s home and had an extra four months added to his sentence.
