KILLER FOUND WITH HEROIN STASH
Police officers seized £1k of drugs during raid at his home
A killer once jailed over the slaying of a drug dealer was caught with a heroin stash in a raid by cops.
James Henry, 47, was snared after being freed early from an 11-year prison sentence for culpable homicide.
Police found about £1000 of heroin in Henry’s Edinburgh home. He was returned to prison following his arrest to serve an unexpired portion of his jail term.
Henry appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday and pled guilty to heroin possession. Fiscal depute Xander Van Der Scheer said police searched Henry’s address in the city’s Niddrie area in December 2020 and discovered drugs valued at between £900 and £1000.
Defence agent Stephen Mannifield said drug addict Henry was returned to prison in January last year and served a further seven months.
Sheriff Frank Crowe admonished Henry over the offence. He told him it was a “serious matter” but he was giving him the “opportunity to move on”. Henry was convicted of taking part in a drugs heist which went wrong in Musselburgh, East Lothian, in April 2010.
The knife-wielding thug and his cohorts hatched a plot to rob Dennis Parker who ended up fatally stabbed.
Henry was sentenced to 11 years and three months in March 2011 after being found guilty of culpable homicide at the High Court in Perth.
His co-accused Ross Hendry, then 37, was given a minimum 18 years for murdering Dennis, 27. He was given a further two years for trying to dispose of evidence. The pair, along with two female friends, hatched a plot to rob Dennis of drugs and money after hearing how the frail eight-stone heroin dealer had been robbed twice before.
The court was told the women told Dennis they wanted to buy heroin from him before sending a phone message to Hendry and Henry.
The two men burst into the flat wearing balaclavas and carrying knives, and demanded cash and drugs.
Dennis pulled a sword out from the side of his sofa before Hendry plunged a knife into him.