Inverness drug dealer 'fell back into old habits' court is told
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A man who dealt both cocaine and heroin from his home address in Inverness has been jailed for nine months.
Daniel Howarth (34), who gave his address as Inverness Prison, admitted being concerned in the supply of both the class A drugs at his former home in the city’s Mackay Road on December 10 last year.
Depute fiscal Karen Aitken told the court that when police carried out a search of the property on December 10, Howarth and two other individuals were present.
Money totalling £448 was recovered at the scene along with a number of wraps that were found to contain separate quantities of white and brown powder.
Further analysis later identified these substances as cocaine and heroin.
The fiscal told the court that a quantity of papers containing relevant contact numbers were also found during a search of the property.
The amount of cocaine recovered was valued at £448 while the quantity of cocaine was said to be worth £370.
Defence solicitor Duncan Henderson told the court that Howarth had been on benefits at the time of his latest offending and had fallen back into old habits.
Drug use had taken a heavy toll on his life, Mr Henderson added, with Howarth losing both his girlfriend and his employment as a result of his activities.
Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald told Howarth that he had a significant record in terms of previous offending.
Most of his previous convictions also related to illegal drugs activity, she pointed out, and he had also served significant prison sentences in the past.
On the basis of his prior record, she told Howarth, she had no alternative in this case but to impose another period of imprisonment.
She sentenced him to nine months’ imprisonment.
This period was backdated to December 11 to take into account the time he had already spent on remand in connection with the case, Howarth was told.
