Dealing drugs to pay off his debts landed jail term

A Perth man who became involved in drug dealing after running up a substantial heroin debt was jailed for 30 months at the Sheriff Court this week.

The court was told that 41-yearold Stuart Laing, of Kinnaird Bank, Craigie, had started using the Class A drug to combat the “considerable pain” he suffered after being involved in a serious road smash.

Court papers revealed that pressure had also been put on his family to recover the debt, initially said to have been £2000 but later more than doubled to £5000.

An affidavit indicated that on one occasion last October, two men wearing disguises appeared at his door with sledgehammers.

They smashed two of the three windows at the front of the house and shattered “every single window” in his car, parked outside.

The bill for the house glass was £1800 and he also had to pay £250 excess on his car insurance policy.

On Monday, December 18, two people came to his door again, wearing balaclavas, and said: “You owe us five grand.”

One of them punched him in the face and he received treatment for a chipped tooth.

All of the confrontations were reported to the police.

Depute fiscal Carol Whyte said that police received “intelligence” suggesting that the occupants of a purple Ford Fiesta were in possession of controlled drugs.

Plain clothes officers, in an unmarked police car, spotted the vehicle in Park Place, in the Craigie area of the city.

The accused was in the passenger seat and he was arrested.

When he was searched, a white, knotted bag containing brown powder, along with two mobile phones, were seized.

A search of the car led to a ball hammer and another mobile being recovered.

The bag contained almost seven grammes of heroin, with a 12 per cent purity.

It was valued at between £200 and £350.

Solicitor David Holmes said his client had suffered serious injuries to his leg and arm, leading to nerve damage, in the crash which took place when he was 14.

He was still in “considerable pain” and started taking heroin, running up a debt.

“Parties put pressure on him in relation to that debt and he tried to keep it from his family.

“But they attended at his family home and caused considerable damage.”

He agreed to become involved in drug dealing to help pay off the debt but appreciated he had “taken the wrong choice.”

Laing admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin at Park Place, Perth, between November 1 and 15, 2017.

Imposing the jail term, Sheriff William Wood noted it was his third conviction on indictment for a drugs offence.

The sheriff concluded: “The courts have regularly made it clear that people who are involved in drugs, specifically Class A substances, can expect a prison sentence.”