Man is caught red handed with heroin

Cops swoop as dealer gets out of a taxi

Plain-clothes cops caught a heroin dealer red handed as he tried to make a delivery, a court heard.

Officers watched as Jamie Paterson get out of a taxi outside a block of flats in Fremantle Street, Livingston.

The saw another male came out from bushes where he’d been hiding and approached the accused.

The CID officers moved in a detained both men for a drugs search, prosecutor Alistair Macleod told Livingston Sheriff Court.

He said: “At this point the accused stated he was in possession of one ounce of heroin which was in his jacket pocket.

“Officers recovered that from the accused who was detained and taken to Livingston police station.

“When interviewed he admitted that he had an ounce of heroin but indicated that he was holding it for another person.”

Mr Macleod said the Class ‘A’ drug weighted 28.3 grammes and was valued at approximately £2800.00.

Paterson ( 35) of Fremantle Street, Livingston, pled guilty to being concerned in the supplying of a controlled drug to another or others outside his home on April 29 last year.

Neil Robertson, defending, admitted that Paterson had previous convictions and said he would reserve his plea in mitigation until sentence.

Sheriff Peter Hammond ordered a criminal justice social work report into Paterson’s background and called for an assessment of his suitability for tagging under a home detention curfew.

He will be sentenced later.