Perth prisoner caught with heroin haul in cell

A drug dealing prisoner who attempted to conceal £6,500 worth of heroin between his buttocks has been locked up for another 32 months.

Barrie Stewart made the doomed bid to hold on to a large bag of the illicit substance as prison officers at HMP Perth searched his cell.

The 27-year-old, of Dundee, was just 12 weeks into a twoyear sentence for dealing heroin when they swooped on his new home in B Hall.

Perth Sheriff Court heard Stewart had been stripped and was being restrained by two officers while another carried out a search.

“He was struggling and acting in a suspicious manner and the officers suspected he was concealing an item between his buttocks,” depute fiscal John Malpass said.

“He was holding on tight and was telling the officers to let him go. As he did so, an item dropped on to the floor.”

Mr Malpass said the item had been “a clear bag containing a brown substance”.

A search of the cell revealed a paper wrap containing more heroin.

Stewart claimed he’d hoped to use his time in prison to get clean and secure a methadone prescription but he had struggled to get help.

He said that days after his imprisonment he had received news that his brother had been found dead at the foot of a block of flats and had turned to drugs.

Stewart admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin at HMP Perth on November 16 last year.

Sheriff Gillian Wade told him he had “an horrendous record”, given previous convictions for drug dealing, dishonesty, breach of the peace and weapons charges.