Man who supplied drugs to the Highlands has sentence reduced on appeal
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The High Court of Justiciary has reduced the sentence of a man involved in the supply of drugs to the Highlands following an appeal.
Alasdair Finlayson and Cameron Ross both pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine, with Finlayson also admitting supplying cannabis, the sentence for which he did not appeal.
Finlayson was originally sentenced to nine years imprisonment in respect of the cocaine charge, with Ross being jailed for 23 months.
The appeal was heard by Lord Pentland and Lord Matthews who heard that Finlayson had played a significant part in a large-scale operation to supply cocaine to the Highlands from January to August 2020.
He was identified under surveillance as meeting and exchanging items with suspected English drug dealers, travelling to, from and between various so-called stash sites,engaging directly with cash and controlled drugs at these sites, and selling drugs to customers.
The sentencing judge considered that he had played a leading role in the operation, and weighed this against the mitigating factors that he was himself a user of the drugs he supplied and was in debt to others at a higher level in the supply chain, which to some extent influenced his decision to remain involved in the drug trade.
He would have been sentenced to 10 years, but received a year's discount for pleading guilty shortly before trial.
At appeal his team said the sentencing judge had not given sufficient weight to the mitigating factors and that it was clear that the appellant was not a high level organiser.
They also argued he accepted full responsibility for his crimes and they pointed to a different prosecution against a person at a higher level of the supply chain who had been given a sentence shorter than that given to Finlayson.
Ross, aged 18 at the time of the offence, was observed meeting someone along a forestry track in the Glenglass area, which led police to a stash of cocaine and boric acid hidden there.
He maintained that he had been intimidated into hiding drugs at the location by someone he declined to name.
The sentencing judge took the view that he deliberately involved himself in a large scale drug operation but, in light of his age and other factors, imposed a headline sentence of 30 months.
Lord Pentland, delivering the opinion of the court, began with Finlayson’s ("the first appelant") case: “Contrary to the view formed by the sentencing judge, we were not satisfied that the first appellant’s involvement displayed the features of a person who played a leading role.
"There was, for instance, no evidence that the first appellant had an expectation of substantial financial gain, that he was using a business as a cover, that he had close links to the original source of the drugs or that he abused a position of trust or responsibility.”
He continued: “Overall, we considered that to say that the first appellant played a leading role in the sense defined by the English guidelines was to overstate the true level of his participation. In the circumstances, we concluded that the sentencing judge erred in finding that the first appellant played a leading role. We considered that the appropriate categorisation under the English guidelines would be that he played a significant role.”
Turning to Ross, he said: “The sentencing judge took account of all the relevant considerations relating to the circumstances of the offence and also of the second appellant’s personal circumstances, including his young age and other difficulties. We did not consider that he could be said to have erred in concluding that the only appropriate sentence was a custodial one.”
He concluded: “We had some difficulty in following the judge’s analysis of the relationship between the two guidelines to which we have referred but as it happens he substantially modified the period of custody that would otherwise have been appropriate for an adult offender to reflect all the mitigating factors. The sentence he ultimately selected was not excessive.”
The court quashed Finlayson’s original sentence and substituted a sentence of seven years and three months imprisonment.
The appeal by Ross was refused.
