Me, a cannabis grower? I was taking the rap to protect son, insists teacher
She lied to police over plants in bath
A PRIMARY teacher who told police that she was growing cannabis in her home has now claimed she lied to protect her son.
When officers found cannabis plants and special lights in a bathroom at Shona Gray’s home following reports of a break-in, she said she had been ‘experimenting’ with growing the drugs to avoid using local dealers.
The 55-year-old accepted a caution when offered it by the police.
But, appearing before a disciplinary hearing ordered by Scotland’s teaching watchdog, she told a very different story.
Giving evidence to the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) this week, she said she had lied to police about the source of the drugs, suggesting that they belonged to a friend of her son, Sam.
The public hearing in Edinburgh was told that the friend, Adam Milne, who had been staying at her home in Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, had called police about the reported break-in, which turned out to be false.
But one of the officers who went to her home said the smell
‘I was trying to protect my son’
of cannabis was immediately evident in the hallway.
Although Gray denied all knowledge of any drugs at the property, PC Paul Murphy told the hearing: ‘In the corner of the bath where the shower should be were three cannabis plants… and lights to help them grow.
‘You could not live at the house without knowing cannabis was being grown. You could smell the odour from the hallway area.’
PC Murphy said the teacher told him the drugs ‘belonged to her for her own personal use’. She told him she was growing it ‘as an experiment to prevent her from going to local dealers’.
The officer said that books on how to grow cannabis were also found at the property.
But Gray told the GTCS panel: ‘I was trying to protect my son. He’s my number one priority. I haven’t smoked cannabis since I was 21.’
Asked if she was cultivating cannabis in her house, she said: ‘I deny that absolutely.’
Gray said that after Milne, 23, moved in to the house ‘there was a conversation early on about drugs. I found a rolled-up train ticket. Sam had told me Adam had drugs.’
Her lawyer at the hearing, Graeme Murray, asked her whether she could smell the cannabis, to which she replied: ‘I have a very poor sense of smell.’
Asked if she had recently been in the bathroom where the cannabis was being grown, she replied: ‘No. That bathroom didn’t work. Adam was made very clear of that when he moved in.’
Gray, who works as a support for learning teacher at Mackie Academy in Stonehaven, as well as at two local primary schools, faces a single allegation at the GTCS that on or around March 11, 2013, she produced cannabis, a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, at her home for her own use.
Case presenter Gary Burton told the disciplinary panel that Gray’s lie to the police could be considered serious enough for the GTCS to take action.
He said: ‘The view could be taken that that could be a breach of code.’
Panel chairman John Kilpatrick decided to halt proceedings and moved the hearing into private. The case was adjourned.
Speaking from his home in Stonehaven, Milne corroborated the version of events Gray gave in evidence to the GTCS.
He said: ‘This was absolutely nothing to do with her. I don’t know if she even knew there was cannabis growing in the house.
‘If she needs someone to stand up and say she wasn’t involved, I’ll do that.’
He also said he had been convicted of growing cannabis in relation to the incident and had been given a fine and community service.
Gray and her son, who was also at the hearing, declined to comment. Aberdeenshire Council said it would not comment while the case was ongoing.