Heroinstashwas hiddenintoilet

A Perthshire woman hid almost 44 grammes of heroin in a toilet at Children’s Hearing premises in Perth.

The stash was subsequently collected by Brendan McGivern, also of Blairgowrie, who was serving a jail sentence in Glenochil at the time.

But his attempt to smuggle the illicit substance, worth almost £22,000, into the jail was foiled when he was searched by prison officers on his return.

The 35-year-old has already been jailed for two years for his part in the operation.

Handing down that sentence, Sheriff Craig Caldwell told him: “You took part in what was clearly a carefully-planned exercise to introduce a significant amount of Class A drugs to the prison, for dissemination and distribution among the inmates there.

“The extremely adverse effects of the use of drugs in prison are well-known.”

Thirty-five-year-old Nicola Shepherd, of Glenshee Drive, Rattray, was warned at Perth Sheriff Court that she can also expect a custodial sentence.

She admitted that on January 12, 2016, at the Children’s Hearing premises, in the Fair City’s Kinnoull Street, she was concerned in the supply of the Class A drug.

Depute fiscal John Malpass said McGivern had contacted Shepherd from the Clackmannanshire jail.

She was instructed to take the drugs to the hearing and “secrete” them underneath a bin liner in a bin in the communal toilet.

She did that - and he subsequently collected the packages.

But prison officers, who had accompanied him to the hearing, searched him when he got back to the jail.

He was subsequently jailed for two years at Falkirk Sheriff Court last August.

“When interviewed, she indicated that she hadn’t looked inside the packages but had an idea they contained illicit drugs and were bound for onward supply within the prison,” added Mr Malpass.

“There were eight individual packages containing brown powder which, when tested, proved positive for heroin.”

The total weight of the drug was 43.95 grammes - and had a prison value of £21,950. The illicit street value was £4395. Sheriff William Wood agreed to defer sentence until June 21 for a background report after hearing that Shepherd is currently subject to a Community Payback Order.

But he warned her that a custodial sentence was “very much” in his mind.

Defence lawyer David Holmes reserved his plea in mitigation until next month.