Prison inmate sentence increased after drugs worth thousands found in cell

A Perth Prison inmate, caught red-handed with heroin worth up to £1500 on the jail’s black market, had another 14 months added to his sentence at the Sheriff Court this week.

Garry Gibson’s earliest release date was to have been June 8 this year but that has been extended after a package was spotted on his pillow by prison officers who arrived to give him his breakfast.

The accused, described as a prisoner at Perth, admitted being in possession of the Class A drug with intent to supply it to others at the Edinburgh Road jail on November 30, 2016.

Gibson had been jailed for shoplifting on November 29, 2016, but it was suspected he may have been“concealing items internally” and was placed in a single, segregation unit cell on his admission.

Shortly after 8am the next morning, staff went to provide him with breakfast.

Depute fiscal Carol Whyte explained:“Upon opening the hatch, they observed the accused to be fairly drowsy and they saw an object on his pillow which appeared to be a small plastic wrap containing an unknown substance.”

Two of the staff went into the cell and seized the package, which they suspected to be heroin.

Gibson maintained that it was cannabis but it later tested positive for the Class A drug.

It weighed 7.12 grams, with a street value of £200-250, according to the fiscal.

But the prison value was around five times that - £1000-£1250.

Sheriff William Wood ordered that the jail term run from December 1 last year.