Swansea man told to expect jail term over body dump case
Ernest John Lewis, aged 58, of Pinewood Road, Uplands, was convicted at Swansea Crown Court yesterday with Doai Ba Tran, aged 70, of London.
They were among five people arrested last May after the body of a Vietnamese man was found dumped near Llanelli.
The deceased, Kim Van Tran, had been involved in growing cannabis at a house in Porth-y-Deri, Porthyrhyd, that was owned by Lewis.
When Kim Van Tran collapsed and died at the factory, his body was wrapped up and left in a drainage ditch between Five Roads and Horeb.
But after council workmen found it on May 8, a major police investigation led to the discovery of 498 cannabis plants at Porth-y-Deri and 373 at a house in Thomas Street, Llandeilo.
The sophisticated way the drug was being cultivated proved the growers had considerable knowledge of how to produce the maximum yield from five crops a year, the jury heard.
According to the prosecution, the combined annual yield of the two cannabis factories had a potential street value of more than £1 million.
Yesterday, after an 11-day trial, Lewis was found guilty of conspiring to produce cannabis.
Doai Ba Tran — who admitted conspiring to produce cannabis — was found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice by using his Astra car to move Kim Van Tran's body.
A 17-year-old male youth from Vietnam who denied involvement in the conspiracy was acquitted.
The jury heard that two other Vietnamese nationals arrested in May pleaded guilty before the trial.
Thang Xinh Dau, aged 39, and Loc Van Nguyen, aged 20, both of no fixed address, admitted being jointly involved in the cannabis conspiracy.
Dau also pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice by moving the body.
After Lewis and Tran were found guilty yesterday afternoon Judge Keith Thomas adjourned proceedings for them to be sentenced with Dau and Nguyen at a later date. All four are behind bars.
"Custody is inevitable," added the judge. During the trial, a forensic scientist described tests she carried out on plastic sheets found wrapped around the body in the ditch.
Discovered on this packaging were a number of fibres – and these were found to be indistinguishable from fibres in a carpet at Porth-y-Deri.
Giving evidence, Doai Ba Tran said he had agreed to deliver supplies from London to Carmarthenshire for a drug gang when he needed money for sick relatives.
He claimed that when he sought to distance himself from the gang, he had acid thrown at him.
Lewis denied any involvement in the cannabis conspiracy. He admitted that, as a former overhead linesman, he had electrical know-how, but he denied tampering with the electricity supply at his Porth-y-Deri property or at the other factory in Thomas Street.
Speaking after the verdicts, Detective Chief Inspector Richard Evans said although police were pleased with the outcome, they acknowledge it would be of little comfort to the family of Kim Van Tran and said their sympathies remain with them.
He said it had proved a particularly challenging investigation after the discovery of the body on May 8.
"At that time, we did not know how or where he had died, nor who had dumped his body or when," he said
"But within seven days we had answered these questions, through the use of cutting-edge investigative techniques.
"And it was through the dedication of my investigation team, the support of colleagues in other forces, together with the valued assistance of members of the public that the persons responsible were caught quickly and have now been found guilty."
Detective Chief Inspector Evans said he wanted to reassure the public that tragic incidents such as these were extremely rare within the Dyfed-Powys Police area.
"We will continue to do our utmost to ensure it remains the safest place in England and Wales to live," he added.
He appealed to the public to report any suspicious activity around empty or rented properties to the police.
"This could include people visiting a derelict or empty property or removing items from it, especially late at night or during the early hours of the morning," he said.
Anyone with information which could help police remove drug dealers from our communities should contact their local police station via 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
