A quantity surveying student and a history teacher’s son have been jailed for a total of four years after they were caught dealing ecstasy at T in the Park.
Paul McGee, 21, and Conor McAteer, 23, had nearly £1,000 of the Class A drug hidden inside a roll-on deodorant at the music festival.
Perth Sheriff Court was told that both men had been selling the drug for a period before the festival as they believed it was an easy way to make money.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis jailed McGee for 20 months and McAteer for 28 months and blamed both for delays in the case which dated back to the summer of 2013.
He told McGee, the son of a teacher: “It is always a matter of regret when someone who potentially has promise faces the consequences of losing their liberty.”
And he told McAteer, who is studying quantity surveying, that it was his own decision to sell drugs which had led to him destroying his future.
He said: “It is the consequence of him involving himself in the supply of Class A drugs. It is Mr McAteer who gets himself into this position.
“It’s not me sitting up here who is potentially destroying his life or putting him back significantly. Mr McAteer has done that himself.
“Mr McGee, in terms of the background report, you find yourself in front of me because you indicate that the involvement in supplying Class A drugs seemed to be a reasonable and appropriate means of providing you with finance.
“Mr McAteer, you found yourself in that situation because you had an addiction to illicit substances [ketamine] and were drawn in and had a liability as a result.
“Both of you have accepted you were involved in the supply of ecstasy – not just at T in the Park – for a period prior to that. The risks posed by taking ecstasy are clear.”
Solicitor Paul Hannah, for McGee, said: “He is a young man who comes from a stable and supportive family background. Both his parents are in full-time employment and his mother is a history teacher.
“He went off the rails at one point and that was a considerable frustration for her. He was a pupil with some potential and got a good number of standard grades, but thereafter his attention wandered.”
Sheriff Foulis said: “I’m sure his mother would have been pulling her hair out.”
McAteer’s solicitor said a prison sentence would “destroy his life” and said he could be given a community sentence instead because he had been out of trouble since 2013.
But the sheriff noted that it was the duo – and their lawyers – who had been responsible for the majority of the delays in the case finally being dealt with in court.
The court heard how the behaviour of McGee, Airthey Avenue, Glasgow, and McAteer, Crown Terrace, Glasgow, attracted the attention of security officers and a search discovered their stash of the potentially deadly pills.
Both men admitted taking drugs into the music festival to supply them to other revellers in 2013 and to selling Ecstasy for weeks beforehand.
Fiscal depute Gavin Letford told the court: “They were found standing in the campsite by security officers who formed the opinion they were acting suspiciously.
“They approached McGee and noticed his speech was incoherent and he was under the influence of something. He consented to a search.
“As a result a roll-on deodorant was found in his possession and it contained a quantity of tablets within the lid. He had a wallet containing a large amount of cash.”
The two men had a total of 87 tablets worth £870 and had a series of text messages on their mobile phones which proved they were involved in the illicit trade.