Woman sent to jail for dealing heroin

A Fife woman convicted of dealing heroin after her DNA was found on the knot of a food bag containing the drug has been jailed.

Gillian Hay had claimed during her trial that someone else put the bag inside a jacket in her home without her knowledge.

She said her DNA could have been on it because she regularly used food bags for items such as onions.

The 39-year-old, of New Flockhouse, Lochore, also claimed to not know anything about a mobile phone in her home, which was found to have received text messages to someone called “Gill” alluding to potential drug deals.

Sheriff Alison Michie found Hay guilty of possessing heroin and class C etizolam tablets – also known as street Valium – with intent to supply in February 2019.

She sentenced her to five months in prison.

During the trial, senior procurator fiscal depute Azrah Yousaf asked Hay why her DNA was found on the knot of a bag containing 62g of heroin inside a woman’s jacket in a wardrobe.

Hay replied: “They are food bags and I use them all the time.

“Food bags are on a roll and I pull them out in loads and so my DNA touches every bag.

“I use the bags for onions, all sorts of things.”

Hay’s friend, Adam Bett, who was jailed in March for breaking through a shop roof to steal £400 to fund a drug habit, gave evidence in her defence that he brought the drugs into her home and hid them in jackets without her knowledge.

The 37-year-old also said he took a mobile phone to Hay’s home, which he used to contact people about drugs but could not explain who “Gill” was when questioned.