Street valium dealer escapes jail term

A woman who dealt in street valium at Bannockburn services was ordered to carry out unpaid work last week.

Helen Haughian had previously been found guilty of being concerned in the supply of Etizolam and the possession of cannabis at Moto Hospitality, Prinhall Roundabout, on November 26, 2019.

When the 36-year-old appeared for sentence last Wednesday her agent told Stirling Sheriff Court that she had a number of issues in her life. These difficulties meant that she used drugs as“a coping mechanism”.

He told Sheriff William Gilchrist that Haughian had been struggling with heroin abuse for some time. However, she had referred herself to support services in March this year and was now on a methadone prescription which was working well.

Haughian had denied the charges at the trial diet and continued to do so in the report prepared for the court by a social worker. The lawyer added that would not come as a surprise to the sheriff.

While Haughian had a number of convictions, the last one on her criminal record was in 2018 and there were no outstanding matters before the court.

The November 2019 date of the offences was“some considerable vintage now”.

The defence agent recognised that Sheriff Gilchrist would be considering a custodial sentence given a charge of being concerned in the supply of a class-C drug.

Sheriff Gilchrist however said he was minded to impose a noncustodial sentence in the circumstances – a community payback order comprising 200 hours’unpaid work and 12 months’supervision.

But he told Haughian, of Airdrie, that if an offence of being concerned in the supply of drugs was committed in future she would likely receive a custodial sentence, adding:“You have been warned”.