Drug dealer sentenced for trafficking teenage boy
A drug dealer from Tredegar has been sentenced for a modern slavery offence after recruiting a teenage boy into his criminal activities.
Tyler Barnsley, 18, was dealing drugs from an address in Tredegar. On 27 September 2024, police conducted a raid on the property and seized cannabis, mobile phones, scales, snap bags and cash.
When the phones were analysed, messages were found which showed that Barnsley was dealing cocaine and cannabis and was using a 14-year-old boy to deliver drugs and collect cash for him in the Blaenau Gwent area.
Louisa Robertson of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Tyler Barnsley knew he was recruiting a child into his dangerous criminal activities, showing no concern for the child’s welfare and only thinking of himself and his drug profits.
“The investigation by Gwent Police allowed the Crown Prosecution Service to present a strong case, resulting in Barnsley’s guilty pleas.
“Using children to profit from criminal activities is abhorrent, and the Crown Prosecution Service will prosecute those who do so whenever our legal test is met.”
Tyler Barnsley was sentenced to three years in a Young Offender Institution on 25 June 2025 at Cardiff Crown Court.
Notes to editors
- Reporting restrictions have been imposed in respect of the teenage boy
- Tyler Barnsley (DOB: 29/06/2006) is from Tredegar in Blaenau Gwent
- Barnsley pleaded guilty to the following three offences:
- Being concerned in the supply of cocaine (1 January 2024 – 27 November 2024)
- Being concerned in the supply of cannabis (1 January 2024 – 27 November 2024)
- Trafficking, contrary to s. 2(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (1 June 2024 – 27 November 2024). This offence relates to the child being recruited and used to convey drugs and cash
- Louisa Robertson is a Specialist Prosecutor in the CPS Cymru-Wales Complex Casework Unit.