Drug-dealer granny gets jail term

A GRANDMOTHER who claimed her toyboy husband had turned her into a drug dealer was jailed for 28 months yesterday.

Maxine Stevenson, 42, was caught selling heroin from her home on Rannoch Road, Perth, to fund her own habit, which she blamed on her ill-fated marriage to Nicky Mutch, 29.

A jury yesterday found Stevenson — a mother-of-three and grandmother-of-four — guilty of being concerned in the supply of heroin on February 7 last year.

Sheriff Fiona Tait told Stevenson that there was no alternative to a prison sentence because she had a previous drug-dealing conviction on her record from 2009.

Perth Sheriff Court was told Stevenson was aiming to make £140 of profit on the heroin, purchased originally for £170.

Stevensonwasdubbedpartofthe“real-life Shameless” couple when she was jailed for three years in 2009 for dealing heroin from her home.

The court was told newlywed Stevenson had been introduced to class A drugs by her husband and had quickly developed a £60-a-day heroin habit.

The court was told it was “unfortunate” she had chosen to marry Mutch and that the couple had become estranged just weeks after the wedding ceremony.

Stevenson and Mutch were compared to characters from Channel 4’s Shameless by both spending the first year of married life behind bars for drug dealing.

Solicitor Linda Clark, defending, told the court in 2009: “She was not involved with drugs at all until 2006. She became involved in a relationship with a gentleman who is well-known to the court and who was already a drug user.

“She was introduced to class A drugs by him and his circle of friends. Unfortunately for her, she subsequently married the gentleman, albeit they are now estranged.

“During the relationship she took classA substances and became hooked on heroin. Prior to the break-up, she describes persons coming regularly to their property.

“She was aware of the course of conduct taking place. She herself got involved.”

Maxine Stevenson.