A judge has fined a Newtown man £150 after he admitted having up to £1,000 worth of drugs in his home.

Anthony Mark Evans changed his pleas to guilty after denying two charges of possessing amphetamine and cannabis at an earlier hearing at Welshpool Magistrates' Court.

Evans had chosen to have his trial heard before a judge at the crown court but instead pleaded guilty to both charges at a plea and trial preparation hearing held at Caernarfon and Mold Crown Courts on Thursday, April 11.

Prosecutor Catherine Elvin told the court that police executed a search warrant at Evans' home in Falcon Court, Maesyrhandir on December 6 2022. Officers found 53 grams of the powerful stimulant amphetamine and 42.4 grams of cannabis.

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The cannabis, which was portioned across three separate packets, were worth £424, and the amphetamine had a value of between £265 and £530.

Evans, who has 26 convictions for 46 offences, was last before the court for drug possession in November 2020.

His barrister Jemma Gordon told the court that the 49-year-old had a "long standing history of drug addiction" but had begun "turning his life around" since a period of imprisonment four years ago.

She said: "My client had some reservations about the proceedings which is why he's come to this court for a pre-trial preparation hearing.

"The offences date back quite a while now. There has been a significant amount of time for the Crown to bring these simple charges before the court.

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"Addiction is still an issue he is addressing. The last offence was in November 2020. That is a significant period of time for him to have remained out of trouble save for these two offences to be dealt with."

Her Honour Judge Nicola Saffman told Evans that she took into consideration his rehabilitation during the delay bringing the offences to court before fining him £150 for possessing cannabis.

She decided not to hand a separate penalty for the amphetamine charge or order him to pay £720 costs bringing the case to the crown court because he still owes the court more than £2,000 from previous convictions. The drugs were ordered to be forfeited and destroyed.