Heroin dealer whose £5490 stash was found in a wood on the B861 Inverness to Farr road is spared jail at Edinburgh High Court
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A HEROIN dealer whose former partner claimed he has turned his life around has been spared a jail sentence.
Ian Stewart became a target during a police surveillance operation and was seen to visit drug stashes in wooded areas in Inverness on several occasions.
After one of his visits to an area by the B861 Inverness to Farr road officers recovered hidden heroin worth £5490 on the streets. The cache had the potential to provide almost 5500 "tenner" bags of the drug.
Stewart (31) was later found to have also sent a text message from his mobile phone saying: "I can't get to my stash ppl about hope it ain't coppers."
He was also discovered to have been in phone contact with a drugs courier who travelled from England to Inverness on three separate occasions. During one of his trips he met the courier in Inverness.
The drugs mule was detained by police on his third trip on arrival in Inverness and was found to be in possession of 132 grams of heroin with a potential street value of £13,220.
Stewart, of Hawthorne Park, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire, earlier admitted being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug between October 1 and November 30 in 2012 on the Inverness to Farr road and elsewhere in Inverness.
The High Court in Edinburgh was told that over the two month period Stewart, who used the drug, had acted as a local heroin dealer in the Inverness area acting on the instructions and directions of others.
A judge told Stewart that normally he would go to prison for such an offence, but he would deal with his case by making a community payback order requiring him to carry out 200 hours unpaid work.
Lord Woolman said: "I understand you yourself became a heroin addict in your early twenties."
The judge said that on his account he became a cog for an English based gang at a time when he was unemployed.
Stewart would get heroin for his services as a dealer rather a financial reward.
Lord Woolman said the mother of Stewart's son had provided "a positive character reference" for him and added: "She says you have turned your life around."
The judge earlier told defence counsel Michael Meehan that it was "a good character reference".
The judge pointed out that Stewart had been drugs free for the last three years and had been in full-time employment for the past 10 months and his current employer also provided a positive reference.
Mr Meehan told the court: "He is a hard-working man trying to make good with his life."
The defence counsel said: "Clearly he has been assessed as a suitable candidate for a community-based disposal which he recognises, for a case of this nature, would be an unusual disposal."
But Meehan asked the judge to recognise that there were unusual features, including the positive steps taken by Stewart and "the very positive references provided by both his employer and his former partner".
He said that the labourer was in a long-term relationship with his present partner and they appeared to be a close couple.
Mr Meehan said: "She is aware of the serious position he is in appearing before My Lord today."
The defence counsel said it was a case of a drug user with a habit eventually turning to dealing to fund his habit.
Mr Meehan said: "He accepts his involvement in the offence and accepts the impact this type of offending can have on the community."
