Dealer sentenced after court rejects ‘poker winnings’ claim
BY GRANT McCABE A DRUG dealer who ran a £200k pill-making factory was snared after a raid at the home of a Paolo Nutini impersonator.
Jamie Woods claimed he raked in the cash from playing poker professionally.
But police discovered a huge haul of psychoactive substance etizolam at the property.
A judge heard Woods, 29, had owned a £30,000 Mercedes and a £10,000 Rolex Submariner watch.
A jury yesterday convicted him of producing and supplying etizolam following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
The dad was jailed for six years for what Judge Norman Ritchie QC called a “substantial” drug operation.
It emerged Woods had previously been locked up for more than two years for his role in cannabis dealing in 2013.
Jamie McArthur, 28 – who went by the stage name Paolo Martini – was cleared of the same charges after the jury returned not proven verdicts.
He and former lover Allana Morton, 27 – who was found not guilty – had denied being involved.
Co-accused Eric Reid, 45, and Mark Reid, 26, each had not proven verdicts returned.
Jurors heard how police had swooped on the home in Howwood, Renfrewshire, McArthur once shared with hotel manager Morton. Woods had been using the house after the couple split up.
Police found a large mechanical pill-press, which needed several officers to shift. Tablets, powder, boxes and plastic bags were also discovered.
Woods’s prints were found on items, including the press.
A pair of pink rubber gloves were seized but Woods had claimed: “I was helping clean the toilet two or three weeks before the police came.”
And he insisted he only wore dust masks that were found because he was pretending he was “raving to my friend” in a Facetime video call.
Woods was asked about how he funded an expensive car and watch.
McArthur’s lawyer Bob Mitchell later said to him: “The idea that you are a professional poker player is ridiculous.
“You are a drug dealer. Your money was made from etizolam.”