Dealer threw safe full of heroin out window

A DRUG-dea l i ng joi ner threw a safe full of heroin worth around £14,000 out of a window after police turned up to raid his Charleston flat.

Dale Ramsay denied any responsibility for having drugs or throwing the safe – despite officers finding multiple bags of the Class A substance along with traces of his DNA.

A court heard that Ramsay had been storing heroin in order to pay off debts.

The 26-year-old was jailed at Dundee Sheriff Court with a sheriff slating Ramsay’s conduct and the scourge of heroin in the city.

Police were accompanied by a press photographer when they arrived at Ramsay’s home on Craigmount Road in January with a search warrant.

As the officers entered the common close they heard a “loud thud” in the communal garden, which was caused by a safe thrown from a window.

Ramsay let the officers inside and he was detained for a search.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson said: “The property and the accused’s car were searched. Two sets of scales along with £2,121.45 in cash were recovered.

“The safe was opened and found to contain what appeared to be drugs, and the accused was arrested.

“He was cautioned and charged and replied ‘they’re no mines like. This has got nothing to do with me’.”

Ramsay was taken to police headquarters on West Bell Street, where he denied any knowledge of the existence of the safe or the drugs.

Five bags of heroin were recovered with a total weight of 356.78g, with an estimated street value of up to £14,260. Ramsay’s DNA was found on all of the packaging.

Ramsay, a prisoner of HMP Perth, pleaded guilty via video link to being concerned in the supply of heroin on January 17 on Craigmount Road while subject to four bail orders.

He is currently serving a sentence after admitting leaving an innocent bystander scarred by attacking him with a glass in a city pub in May. Ramsay was also convicted of assaulting his former partner.

Defence solicitor Paul Parker-Smith said Ramsay had gone “off the rails” following the breakdown of the relationship with the woman last year.

Mr Parker-Smith said: “He started drinking. He had been working as a joiner. That job came to an end in March 2019.

“Thereafter, I am afraid it was a downward spiral. He fell into drug misuse.

“It was in December 2019 that persons to whom he was due money contacted him and he was put under pressure to do something to repay his drug debt by providing a safe house for drugs.”

When passing sentence, Sheriff Alastair Carmichael said: “You have pled guilty to a serious charge here.

“The maximum street value was between £10-14,000, which is a sizeable amount of heroin.”

Ramsay was jailed for a total of 31 months.