A teenage dealer caught with a £51,550 haul of ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis in his family home has been spared a custodial sentence due to his young age.
Andrew Spowart became addicted to drugs at 16 and after racking up debts he wound up using his own Aberdeen home as a “warehouse” for the stock, his solicitor said.
But he also dealt the Class A and B drugs to friends and acquaintances, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
The huge amounts of drugs were found alongside a vacuum packer, drug press, three sets of scales and £235 in cash after police searched his Oldtown Place home on April 1 last year.
£50k drugs haul in teen’s bedroom
Fiscal depute Brian Young told the court police had received intelligence one week before they raided the then 17-year-old’s bedroom.
They found:
- Five bags of cocaine, totalling 266g and worth £26,100
- Cannabis, parcelled up in seven bags and boxes, totalling 912g and worth £13,630 on the street.
- Ketamine weighing 233g and valued at £6,960
- A bag of ecstasy tablets that had a value of between £2,430 and £4,860.
“The accused’s DNA was later found on the bags of cannabis,” Mr Young added.
“His mobile phone was subsequently analysed and showed a large number of messages indicative of the accused having been concerned in the supply of controlled drugs.”
Appearing in court last month, just weeks shy of his 18th birthday, Spowart pled guilty to four charges of being concerned in the supply of drugs between August 8 2021 and April 1 2022, and one charge of possession of cannabis.
Defence agent John Hardie said Spowart, who was accompanied to court by his family and a large group of friends, had become involved in drugs at 16 and, at that age, “didn’t realise the enormity” of what he was doing.
“Buying these drugs became expensive,” he told the court. “He became indebted to drug groups and began to sell on to his own friends and associates to fund his own habit.”
He said months later an offer was made to the teenager that he would receive his own drugs for free as a result of giving them storage space for the stock.
‘These people exploited him’
“He became the warehouse,” the solicitor added. “It’s not a choice he feels he was making freely. It was one he had no option but to accept.
“It’s not something he set out to do. He is a young man who got involved principally because of his own use of these substances. These people then exploited him and his home.
“He is not a person who thinks this was a good idea. On every level, this is something he was told to do.”
The court heard Spowart “remains scared” of the individuals who put him in this position and made what he perceived to be “genuine threats” towards him and his family.
Sheriff Ian Wallace was told “it would be a tragedy for someone making a series of mistakes as a 16-year-old to find himself in custody”.
Spared jail due to young age
The sheriff told Spowart: “This is a serious matter. It’s a high value of Class A and B drugs which you have pled guilty to dealing over a prolonged period.
“Sixteen years is exceptionally young to become involved in this sort of offending.”
He accepted Spowart’s involvement in the dealing scale was at the “lower end”, that there was an element of him being “pressured” by others and that he was bound by sentencing guidelines to take into account his young age.
Spowart, of Oldtown Place, Aberdeen, was handed a two-year supervision order, 250 hours of unpaid work and a 10-month nighttime curfew as an alternative to custody.
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