A CANNABIS dealer had almost £30,000 worth of luxury goods in the Pinehurst home he shared with his parents and girlfriend.

Dean Mulholland, 28, is one of five men on trial for conspiracy to bring cocaine with an estimated street value of £200,000 into Swindon. All deny the charges.

They include among their number a rapper, a Swindon cabbie and a music producer who dated Little Mix star Jesy Nelson at the time of the alleged conspiracy.

Yesterday, the jury in the Bristol Crown Court trial that has already lasted four weeks retired to consider their verdict.

The men are said to have conspired together to bring almost a kilogramme of cocaine from London into Swindon.

Prosecutors allege Marcus “Cas” Mawire and Dean Mulholland organised the Swindon part of the operation, roping-in Brazilian-born taxi driver Edson Monteiro de Resende to drive to London on the night of Thursday, September 7, to pick-up the cocaine and hand over almost £2,000 cash to Harry Byart, a rapper-turned-music producer.

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De Resende filmed himself holding cash, telling his cousin in Portuguese they would spend it at a nightclub Picture: CPS

Earlier that day, Mulholland had been tracked driving round Swindon by undercover police officers and making calls to Mawire and Nahkell Gordon, London-based rapper “J Avalanche” to whom he sold cannabis.

Mawire was said by police to have left his home in Hunters Grove, Ferndale, with a black holdall and getting in to de Resende’s nine-seater Ford Tourneo minicab. As it turned into Ferndale Road, an occupant of the vehicle was claimed to have said: “You asked to go to London, didn’t you?” De Resende drove Mawire to a laundrette on Manchester Road.

Later, the taxi driver was seen at a Swindon tennis centre before returning home to Eldene. After 6pm he was spotted leaving his home, now wearing smart trousers. He dropped off his partner at Morrisons, filled up his taxi with fuel and by 6.40pm was on the M4 headed towards London.

Giving evidence, de Resende claimed Mawire had asked him to drive to London to pick up medication for his cancer-stricken aunt. The driver was to hand over cash for the medication to Mawire’s mother.

By 8.30pm, de Resende was in Tottenham Lane, north London. He stopped and got out of his taxi to relieve himself. Back in the cab, he was said to have been looking constantly at his phone. He was called by Mawire at 8.42pm, driving away shortly after.

At around 9.20pm he stopped in Edgeworth Crescent, Hendon. An undercover police officer claimed to have seen the silhouettes of two men walking to the car. De Resende himself told the court it was only one man, who left a package on the car seat and ordered the driver not to touch it.

Mawire was said to have sent de Resende to Waltham Abbey. At around 10.25pm, as de Resende was parked up, a car driven by Byart pulled into the car park. Police claimed the windows had been rolled down and an envelope – said to have contained almost £2,000 – passed from de Resende to Byart.

The two men told the court differently, with Byart getting out of his car. De Resende had asked if Byart wanted to count the cash, but the producer said he trusted the driver.

The cabbie was on the M4 by 11.10pm. His suspicions were aroused when Mawire contacted him, asking him to take the Reading exit rather than the Swindon one.

Undercover officers following the Ford Tourneo saw it pull abruptly into the hard shoulder. De Resende got out to check the bagged package he had been told was medication for Mawire’s mother. Recognising it as cocaine, the driver was said to have panicked. “I knew Cas had used me to collect drugs by sending me to London,” he told the court.

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Harry Byart outside Bristol Crown Court

Fearing what might happen to his three children if he were to call the police, de Resende carried on to Swindon.

But rather than go to a home in Penhill – where Mulholland was said to be spending time with friends – as directed by Mawire, de Resende headed to his client’s Hunters Grove home. It was there he was stopped by uniformed officers driving an unmarked car. In the taxi they found the block of cocaine and around £290 in cash.

The following day, Mulholland was said to have been seen driving near de Resende’s home in Eldene. Mawire made a number of attempts to contact de Resende by telephone.

Nahkell Gordon, 32, formerly of Eastwood Close, London, Harry Byart, 25, of Merlin Close, Waltham Abbey, Marcus Mawire, 24, of Milton Road, Sittingbourne, Edson Monteiro de Resende, 34, now of Pasteur Drive, Swindon, and Dean Mulholland, 28, of Limes Avenue, Swindon, all deny conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Mulholland, who has previous for dealing cannabis, said he had sold the class B drug to Mawire and Gordon – whom he had met through a Commercial Road Caribbean restaurant. He denied ever dealing cocaine and claimed he was likely to have been in Eldene to drop off cannabis to clients, rather than looking for de Resende.

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The cocaine seized from Swindon taxi driver de Resende’s car Picture: CPS

Asked why he had made so many calls to Mawire and Gordon, Mulholland said he had been considering hiring a Mercedes from the Londoner and had been asking Mawire for advice. The court heard police had seized more than 140 items, including designer clothing, worth an estimated £28,000 when they raided Mulholland’s Limes Avenue home.

De Resende, a man of previous good character, claimed not to have known he was being commissioned to go to London to collect cocaine. Character references described him as hard-working and a good father.

Byart, who as rapper Fugative appeared alongside singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, was said to have been owed money by Gordon for help he had given on the latter’s new record. The money he collected in Waltham Abbey, which he was photographed holding the following day, was said to be a repayment on that £5,000 debt.

Gordon was said to have been travelling to Manchester on the day of the cocaine pick-up. The car hire firm owner, who had lived in Old Town for several months in 2017, claimed he was collecting luxury Mercedes cars from the northern city. Quizzed about messages on his phone referencing slang terms like Flake – meaning cocaine – Gordon made did not attempt to hide his use of the class A drug.

Mawire has not given evidence, but was said to be of previous good character.