Police found thousands of pounds stashed in a mattress and more than £1,200 worth of drugs at a Perth cannabis dealer’s home.
A court heard gardener David MacLeod, 29, was mainly dealing to friends
He also admitted having a kitchen knife with a 16cm blade in his waistband when a stranger found him passed out in Perth on another occasion.
MacLeod was ordered to complete the maximum number of hours of unpaid work instead of going to prison.
Hash stash
Fiscal depute Stephanie Hendry told Perth Sheriff Court police were tipped off and raided MacLeod’s Tulloch Terrace property at 8.15am on August 26 2022.
In a kitchen cupboard, police found three wraps of cannabis and scales.
In a bedroom, officers found a black bag with £4,320 inside, stuffed in a mattress.
Elsewhere in the property, a jar containing £210.60 and a tub of cannabis were uncovered.
In total, the drugs weighed 123.5g and were valued at £1,235.
A Samsung phone was taken from MacLeod.
Cybercrime analysis of texts showed he had been dealing for months.
Misusing substances for 20 years
MacLeod pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis between March 2022 and June 2023.
He also admitted possessing a kitchen knife on the grass near Cairns Crescent, also in Perth’s Tulloch area, on June 21 last year, while on bail.
A stranger heard MacLeod but found him unresponsive with the knife visible.
Police attended and took him to PRI for observation.
His solicitor Linda Clark said: “At the time, Mr MacLeod was working as a landscape gardener.
“In terms of his record, it’s not the most significant record.
“Effectively, from the age of nine he has been misusing substances including alcohol.
“I think he’d been part of a peer group which had been in similar circumstances.”
Ms Clark said her client, who has a single possession of drugs conviction from 2014, suffers from ADHD.
Confiscation hearing set
Sheriff Alison McKay imposed a year’s supervision in connection with the knife offence.
She ordered MacLeod to complete 300 hours unpaid work – the maximum amount – as punishment for his drug dealing.
The sheriff told him his discount for pleading guilty was that an additional restriction of liberty order would not be imposed.
Both sentences were made as direct alternatives to imprisonment.
The sheriff said, in relation to the drugs offence: “I’m concerned about the period of time.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s just your friends, it doesn’t matter whether you yourself were taking drugs.”
Sheriff McKay granted forfeiture of MacLeod’s seized phone, tablet and scales.
The sheriff also fixed a confiscation hearing in relation to the money seized at his home.
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