Main Street flat ‘used for drug dealing’

A man went on trial this week, accused of dealing in cocaine from a flat in Blantyre Main Street.

Paul Macdonald (29), of East Kilbride, pleaded not guilty to being concerned in the supply of the class A drug there between 2014 and 2015.

A resident in the block, John Smith, told the court he had been in his first floor flat when he heard “a racket” in the close outside which sounded like somebody trying to kick the door in.

Questioned by fiscal depute Imran Bashir, Mr Smith said that when he opened his front door there was a man standing at the door of the flat opposite. The man told Mr Smith he had forgotten his key.

Mr Smith told the court that he had not seen the man before or since.

Mr Bashir asked him if he had seen people going into the property. He said he had but it had been “very rarely”.

The fiscal depute asked him if it was the same people or different people. Mr Smith replied that it was different people.

Property manager Anastasia Mcbride of Mcbride Properties told the court the firm had owned a flat in the Main Street block since 2007 or 2008.

It had been tenanted from March 2014 to March 2015, she said, by Ian and Margaret Towers, who were not known to the firm.

Mr Bashir asked her if she met Ian and Margaret Towers. She explained that she carried out paperwork and it had been her brother Anthony who “had signed them up”.

The tenancy came to an end when factors contacted her to say the police had been at the property.

Officers wanted her to get in touch as they had the keys to the flat.

Asked if she had been told about a police search of the property, Miss Mcbride replied: “We were given very little information, just that it was a serious incident.”

She said she did not know about a police search.

Mr Bashir pointed out that police had found a hydraulic press and other items relating to the manufacture of cocaine. He asked Miss Mcbride if she could assist in any way about what was going on.

She replied: “It was a normal tenancy as far as we were aware.”

The fiscal depute also put it to Miss Mcbride that “you didn’t know them before and you didn’t know them after that?” She replied: “no.”

Macdonald’s lawyer Diarmid Bruce said during the search police found letters to Ian Towers, Margaret Towers and Craig Miller, who Miss Mcbride thought was a previous tenant.

There were also packages which were addressed to a Kyle Mcguire at an address in Kirriemuir, East Kilbride.

Asked if she was aware of a Kyle Mcguire associated with the flat, Miss Mcbride replied “no”.

He asked Miss Mcbride if officers had ever asked her if she knew Kyle Mcguire, and she replied “no”.

She also replied “no” when asked by Mr Bruce if there was any reason for Kyle Mcguire to have parcels delivered to the flat.

Mr Bruce also asked the witness if she knew the accused. She said the accused was a business associate who had carried out the installation of security systems like CCTV, intruder alarms and house alarms.

Macdonald had also fixed an alarm at her own home, she said.

The trial continues.