A court heard that what happened to Keith Storer in a French prison had resulted in long-term physical and psychological effects
13:49, 21 May 2026Updated 13:53, 21 May 2026
Keith Storer was sentenced to three years in prison for being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis(Image: South Wales Police)
A drug dealer who skipped bail and went on the run to France ended up in a notorious French prison where he was brutally attacked and abused, a court has heard.
Keith Storer had to be put in solitary confinement for his own safety before being moved from the designated foreign-nationals drugs prison where he was being held. More than five years after he fled the UK the 51-year-old has appeared at Swansea Crown Court where he was sent down, with a judge saying he could see no prospect of rehabilitation.
Regan Walters, prosecuting, told the court that in June, 2020, police executed a warrant at the defendant’s house in the Waunarlywdd area of Swansea.
A search of the property and Storer’s car turned up “several hundred” empty snap-seal bags, weighing scales, note books containing moneys owed, £465 in cash, and 1.2g of cocaine.
The prosecutor said an examination of the defendant’s phone revealed messages relating to the supply of cocaine and cannabis over the previous six months, and also that he was using his teenage daughter as a “runner” to make deliveries for him.
In his police interview, Storer said the drugs recovered by police were for his own use, and that the snap-seal bags had been left at the property by the previous occupants. He said the cash officers found was wages and savings. For the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter
The court heard Storer was subsequently charged but failed to attend Swansea Magistrates Court on November 11, 2020, and the following month an arrest warrant was issued.
The warrant was never executed, and it later emerged that the defendant had absconded and left the country. In October, 2025, both the warrant and the drugs charges against the defendant were withdrawn.
The court heard that in 2026 South Wales Police received information that Storer had returned to the UK – the drugs charges were reinstated and he was arrested and brought before magistrates in March.
The prosecutor said checks showed the defendant had offended while on the run in France. In July, 2022, the defendant was given a suspended sentence for drink-driving, failing to stop, and simple possession of drugs. In July, 2024, he was sentenced to three years in prison for being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs.
Keith Storer, of Castle Street, Loughor, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and being concerned in the supply of cannabis when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has six previous convictions for 13 offences including the matters in France.
Jon Tarrant said that while the defendant’s dealing activities in Swansea could be characterised as “relatively straightforward”, it had to be accepted the offending was aggravated by the fact he committed a further like offence while in France and that there were some “peculiar aspects” to the case.
The barrister said his client spent two years in prison in France, initially in a specialist facility for foreign-national drug offenders where he was the only UK national and where he was subjected to “considerable violence” and other forms of abuse which culminated in an incident which necessitated Storer being moved to solitary confinement while arrangements were made to move him to a different jail. He said after serving his time in France the defendant then returned to the UK.
Mr Tarrant said while it was accepted that Storer was the “author of his own misfortune”, what happened to the defendant in the first French prison had a “stark and long-lasting punitive effect” on his client both physically and psychologically.
Recorder Greg Bull KC said he accepted the defendant had experienced a difficult time in prison in France and had “suffered greatly”, but he said Storer had brought that suffering upon his own head. He said he could see no prospect of rehabilitation.
With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas, Storer was sentenced to three years in prison. He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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