{"id":1034618,"date":"2026-06-18T13:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1034618\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T13:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:20:17","slug":"gwynedd-pensioner-74-retired-from-lengthy-successful-career-for-life-of-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1034618\/","title":{"rendered":"Gwynedd pensioner, 74, retired from ‘lengthy, successful’ career for life of crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

A retired pensioner with a “lengthy, successful” career was jailed today for dealing heroin. Arthur Hughes, 74, was a successful retired builder, Caernarfon<\/a> Crown Court heard..<\/p>\n

But his post-retirement side hustle as a drug dealer came to an abrupt end when police raided his Gwynedd<\/a> home on August 8 last year and found 48 wraps of heroin with a street value of up to \u00a333,600, prosecutor Ben Stanley said.<\/p>\n

Mr Stanley said: “It was deemed to be a typical strength (16%) for diamorphine (heroin), sold on the street in the north west”. Cutting agents were also found and \u00a315,020 in cash.<\/p>\n

He was interviewed by police, but denied keeping illegal drugs at the property. Hughes was released on bail, but then he was stopped and searched on October 15.<\/p>\n

Hughes had a mobile phone which showed movement around the north west of Wales, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, forensic tests showed his DNA was found on the drugs and there was a further arrest on January 7 this year, said Mr Stanley, where cash was found in his living room of just under \u00a35,000. He again denied being a drug dealer in police interviews.<\/p>\n

Hughes, 74, of Maes Bleddyn, Rachub, near Bangor<\/a>, admitted one charge with intent to supply a Class A drug and two charges of possessing criminal property. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter<\/a> sent twice daily to your inbox<\/p>\n

Defending, Richard Edwards, said he had entered an early guilty plea, he was a retired builder, with “a lengthy successful employment history”.<\/p>\n

There had been no offending since 2019, he was in his 70s, with poor health and had caring responsibilities. The court heard he has 17 convictions for 39 offences. He received a suspended sentence for his only previous drug-related offence in 2019.<\/p>\n

Sentencing Hughes to three years and two months in jail, Judge Simon Mills said: “It is rare to see a man of your age involving yourself in this sort of behaviour”, as he branded the illegal selling of drugs “evil”.<\/p>\n

Hughes will serve up to half in prison with the rest on licence. There will also be a Proceeds of Crime Act investigation, with a hearing at a later date. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A retired pensioner with a “lengthy, successful” career was jailed today for dealing heroin. Arthur Hughes, 74, was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1034619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5010],"tags":[55584,748,30,4884,16708,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-1034618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wales","tag-bangor","tag-britain","tag-courts","tag-great-britain","tag-gwynedd","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116771319099172723","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1034618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1034619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1034618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1034618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1034618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}