The heroin was really a painkiller

A dopey drug dealer was about to flog paracetamol thinking it was heroin.

Police discovered the perfectly legal pills on John Druggan before he sold them.

They found them in his sock as he lay unconscious in Cumnock.

Officers were called after he passed out in his back garden at John Baird Street in the town on September 2, Ayr Sheriff Court heard last week.

Pills weighing 8.8g were found in his left sock and Druggan was evasive with dilated pupils.

Depute fiscal Miss Houston described how during incident, Druggan told cops: “‘ If you take that I will just buy more.’”

But tests revealed it was only caffeine and paracetamol.

Defence lawyer Steven Maxwell said Druggan consumed heroin at the higher end of the scale.

He pointed out that even though his client did not have heroin there was an “inference of supply” but that “those lying unconscious are not those supplying.”

Mr Maxwell said: “There is an inference - he could not overcome that inference.”

The lawyer described Druggan in a “state of inebriation” and said he could have been “duped” into believing his stash was heroin.

Describing Druggan’s past, he pointed out although he had a “long record” he was never “involved in the supply of drugs.”

The addict was released on bail.

Sentencing has been adjourned for a criminal justice social work report and restriction of liberty order. Druggan admitted taking possession of paracetamol and caffeine, which he believed to contain diamorphine, with intent to supply.