A drug dealer found with nearly £30,000 worth of heroin was told by a sheriff that he and others like him are “damaging Dundee”.
Stephen Hutton was jailed for four years and five months at Dundee Sheriff Court after admitting being concerned in the supply of heroin at his home on Yarrow Terrace and at Perth Prison, between January 24-26.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael told serial criminal Hutton that the city is “just shy of twice the national average for drug-related deaths, mostly from heroin”.
He said the problem was not just in the illegal supply of Class A drugs, but in the damage caused to the lives and health of users.
Sheriff Carmichael added: “It’s damaging to their families and to the community in Dundee and Angus.
“Your actions are damaging Dundee and you are responsible for that.”
Hutton – who the court was told has 60 previous convictions – intended to take a quantity of the drug into Perth Prison.
But he was thwarted when police searched him, fiscal depute Nicola Gillespie said.
She said Hutton’s record mostly involved offences of theft, but he also has drugs convictions and a High Court conviction for firearms offences.
The court heard Hutton, 37, who is already serving a 19-month prison sentence for other offences, had been arrested on three outstanding warrants by police officers and was taken to police HQ overnight on February 23-24.
While there, officers undertook a search of his home and found bags of brown powder, which were analysed and found to contain heroin while cutting agents caffeine and paracetamol were also found, Ms Gillespie said.
She added that drugs paraphernalia was also recovered by officers.
Hutton was also searched and heroin was found concealed in his body, which Hutton admitted was for taking into Perth Prison.
Ms Gillespie said that in total the drugs were worth between £14,000-£29,640, depending on how the heroin was divided up.
The drugs intended for prison were valued at up to £5,100, she added.
Solicitor Theo Findlay told the court Hutton had substantial debts and had allowed the drugs to be brought into his house.
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