Heroin found in woman’s home

Police recovered heroin worth more than £6000 when they raided the home of a Stonehouse woman.

Officers also seized £3400 in mixed banknotes, Hamilton Sheriff Court, pictured, heard on Friday.

Yvonne Smith, 36, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin at her ground floor flat in Violet Crescent on September 10, 2019.

Abby Seal, prosecuting, said police officers were granted a search warrant and forced entry to the one-bedroom property around 9.35am.

She told the court:“the accused was standing in the living room. No one else was present.

“She was informed she was being detained under the Misuse of Drugs Act and a systematic search of the property took place.”

Bags containing heroin were found in the bathroom and bedroom. A set of digital scales was on a table in the living room.

Ms Seal added:“the officers recovered £1525 from a shoebox in the bedroom and a further £1875 was in a bag in the same room.

“The value of the heroin if sold in small deals was £6040 in total. Expert police officers said this was excessive for personal use.

“The accused confirmed no one else lived in her flat. She gave a‘no comment’interview to the police.”

Sheriff Thomas Millar deferred sentence until next month for a criminal justice social work report and an electronic tagging assessment.

Smith, who has no previous convictions, had her bail continued.

New weekly coronavirus cases in Lanarkshire rose ahead of schools going back this week.

At the Scottish Government’s daily press briefing in Edinburgh on Monday, March 15, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed there had been a further 76 positive tests across the region the previous day.

As a result, there were 663 new coronavirus cases in the county last week – 2.3 per cent more than the previous week and the second week in the past month that case numbers have increased.

After a spike in cases towards the end of last week, the highest daily number of new Covid-19 cases for over a fortnight was announced on March 13 (132).

Although case numbers are usually lower over the weekend, yesterday was the second consecutive day that less than 100 new cases were announced in a single day.

Last week was also the second consecutive week that daily cases averaged less than 100 – the first time that has happened since September. Overall, Covid-19 cases in Lanarkshire are now down by 71 per cent since the peak in the week beginning January 4, when 2353 were confirmed. In total, 38,318 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Lanarkshire and 1292 people have died after testing positive. Lanarkshire has been the worst affected region in Scotland by coronavirus, with 5788.8 cases and 195.2 deaths for every 100,000 residents.

Across the region, 247,577 people – 46.5 per cent of the population – have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccination and 16,994 of them – 3.1 per cent per cent of the population – have received both doses.