Drug dealer caught with heroin had committed ‘self-sabotage’

A drug dealer who was given home leave was discovered with heroin shortly after returning to Castle Huntly jail on the outskirts of Dundee.

University graduate Paul Neal – who is serving 52 months for a large-scale heroin operation – was caught trying to flush the drug down a prison toilet.

Neal, part of a Liverpudlian gang flooding Scotland with class A drugs, was approved for home leave despite previously being caught with a mobile phone behind bars.

Perth Sheriff Court was told yesterday Neal spent a few days at home in Liverpool before returning to Castle Huntly.

Depute fiscal Mairi Graham told the court: “The accused was found in the toilet with the door locked. Officers heard it being flushed two or three times.

“On entering they saw a small empty polythene bag floating on top of the water. They found a wrap containing brown powder in the toilet roll holder.

“He was asked if the wrap was his and he stated yes and said it was heroin. It had a prison value of around £100.”

Solicitor Paul Ralph, defending, said: “He got to Castle Huntly and had a couple of home leaves. He had been in Liverpool and came back.”

Sheriff James Macdonald told Neal, who has been moved back to closed conditions at HMP Shotts, that he had committed an act of “self-sabotage”.

Neal admitted having heroin in Castle Huntly on November 17 and was jailed for four months.

Neal was jailed for 52 months last year after he admitted being part of a drug ring flooding Scotland with heroin and being caught with £30,000-worth of the drug in Perth.

Co-accused Sean Thomas was jailed for four years as Perth Sheriff Court heard the duo were also caught with more than £30,000.

The court heard the duo were caught after leaving a trail of muddy footprints leading to the plastic box they had stuffed with drugs and money and left in woodland in Perth.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis noted the duo, who both came north from Liverpool, had been involved in a large scale operation worth £60,000 in just nine days.