A north-east grandmother has been jailed for almost five years after dealing heroin and cocaine from her one-bedroom flat.
Sharon Hastings stashed tubs and wraps of Class A substances throughout her property in Aberdeen, including under furniture and in the base of a bedside lamp.
The 50-year-old was arrested after police raided the Balnagask property in July after receiving a tip-off.
She was already on bail for a previous drugs offence when she was apprehended, and appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday to be sentenced for both.
Fiscal depute Karen Dow said police found seven other people in the flat when they turned up at the door with a search warrant on July 3.
In total they seized £2,300 worth of diamorphine or heroin, £3,170 of cocaine and hundreds of pounds in cash.
This included 24g of heroin left on the living room table and 25g of cocaine mixed with painkiller phenacetin in a silver case. Smaller quantities were discovered beneath the table and on a tray hidden under the sofa.
Officers also found drugs and £400 in cash in a jacket hanging on the back of a bedroom door, and both heroin and cocaine within a shopping bag concealed in the base of a lamp.
Hastings had previously been charged for supplying heroin and cocaine between October and December last year.
Her solicitor Alex Burn said: “Her life has been catalogued with bad choices. As a consequence, she has lost a lot.”
Mr Burn told the court that her offending had taken its toll on her family, to the extent that she has a new grandchild she has not been allowed to meet.
But he added that Hastings’ time in custody so far has allowed her to make progress with overcoming her drug habit.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin said: “It is good you are in a better position today than you were some time ago.
“You have clearly had significant difficulties in your life.
“That said, you have a record for dealing in the past and there isn’t an alternative to custody for you.”
She sentenced Hastings, whose address was given in court papers as HMP Grampian, to 57 months in prison.
