A man who dropped £2,000 worth of heroin in a Broughty Ferry street as he fled from police officers has been jailed for seven years for drug dealing.
George Bryceland, 56, was described as a “blight on communities” such as his home city of Dundee as he was sentenced at the High Court in Livingston.
He had been convicted for a third time of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs.
Passing sentence, judge Lord Clark told him: “Those like you who supply heroin contribute to a terrible blight on our communities and on those individuals who take the drugs.”
Bryceland, formerly of Arbroath Road in Dundee, was earlier found guilty of obstructing police and being concerned in the supply of heroin after a three-day trial.
A jury heard that he ran off when approached by police officers in Forthill Road, Broughty Ferry, on December 13 last year.
As he did so, Bryceland threw away a package containing 20.83g of heroin with a street value of about £2,000.
The court was told he had electronic scales with traces of the drug on them and £250 in cash but he claimed the heroin was for his own use.
Giving evidence, Bryceland said he had purchased the heroin for £400 from a man in Stobswell on the day he was arrested and was on his way to a friend’s house to take it when he was stopped.
Jurors rejected that claim.
Solicitor advocate Chris Fyffe, defending, said: “He maintains his position that he was not concerned in the supply of heroin on that day.
“What he does say – and he’s been extremely candid with the social worker describing the whole circumstances around his drug addiction problem – on other occasions he has clubbed together with friends to buy a larger quantity of heroin.
“The circumstances of that sort of dealing would be very much at the lower end of the scale.
“There has been no suggestion that Mr Bryceland would make any large amount of money out of it. He was dealing basically to fund a habit.
“The circumstances point to this being low-level dealing.”
Lord Clark highlighted that Bryceland had been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in 2002 after being convicted of four charges of dealing in Class ‘A’ drugs and to three and a half years in 2008 after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
He told Bryceland: “You have been found guilty of intentionally obstructing police officers from exercising their powers in relation to searching for drugs and even more seriously for being concerned in the supply of diamorphine, or heroin.
“I note, as Mr Fyffe has mentioned, the quantity of heroin involved in the present conviction is relatively small, but I also note you have a very high likelihood of reoffending.
“Those like you who supply heroin contribute to a terrible blight on our communities and on those individuals who take the drugs. A custodial sentence is inevitable.”
He sentenced Bryceland to the minimum seven year prison term on the drugs charge and imposed a concurrent six month sentence for obstructing the police.
