Kinlochleven man must carry out 120 hours’ unpaid work

A Kinlochleven man who admitted having herbal cannabis worth around £970 hidden in the spare wheel well of his car was ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work in the community when he appeared at Fort William Sheriff Court this week.

James Nicol, of Foyers Road, had pleaded guilty at a previous court appearance to committing the offence on March 18 last year on the B863 road from Glencoe to Kinlochleven, near Invercoe campsite.

Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald heard how Nicol, 45, had been stopped by police officers on mobile patrol who became suspicious on smelling what they thought might be canAn nabis. During the subsequent search of the vehicle, they found a black toiletry bag in the spare wheel well.

‘Inside that bag was another bag containing a herbal substance, which later turned out to be 165g of herbal cannabis with a value of about £970,' said Procurator Fiscal Robert Weir.

Defence agent Hamish Melrose said his client had been quite candid when interviewed by the police officers, explaining the cannabis had been for his own personal use.

My client is 45 years old and in full-time employment.

‘He has two jobs in fact,' said Mr Melrose.

‘Mr Nicol accepts he has to be punished. He co-operated fully with the compiling of the background report and is content to go along with the recommendations contained in it concerning unpaid work.'

Mr Melrose added that Nicol had completed a ‘fairly significant' drugs detox programme of his own volition.

Issuing a community payback order for 120 hours of unpaid work, Sheriff MacDonald told Nicol: ‘This was a fairly significant quantity of drugs but I note the terms of your plea and what is contained in the [background] report and am persuaded to deal with this matter in accordance with the report.