A drug-dealing funfair worker has been ordered to carry out unpaid work after flogging cannabis outside a newsagent.
Christopher Taylor was caught after police received intelligence about drug dealing outside McColl’s on Hayton Road.
The 34-year-old had started dealing after finding himself short of money during lockdown when the amusement park where he worked shut its doors.
Taylor claimed ownership of almost £300 worth of cannabis officers discovered stashed in a car.
Taylor, of Formartine Road, Aberdeen, previously pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis, and has now returned to the dock to be sentenced.
Defence agent Agne Balnionyte said her client had been employed at a funfair but was now applying for universal credit.
She asked the court to follow the recommendation in a social work report to impose a community payback order with supervision.
Sheriff Robert McDonald handed Taylor 120 hours of unpaid work.
‘Everything in the car is mine’
He also granted forfeiture of £365 which had been found on Taylor.
Fiscal depute Kirsty Martin previously told Aberdeen Sheriff Court: “At 9.10pm on February 11 2021, police were on routine patrol in an unmarked vehicle in the Tillydrone area.
“They received intelligence regarding drug dealing outside McColl’s on Hayton Road.”
Officers attended and saw a black Honda Civic parked nearby, with a male getting out and meeting another man near the shop.
The vehicle then drove off and, when stopped by police, a female was found to be the driver and only occupant.
Due to a “strong smell of cannabis”, the vehicle was searched and a jar containing bags of the class B drug was found in a footwell.
Taylor then approached and told police: “Everything in the car is mine.”
The total weight of the cannabis recovered was 27.9g, worth up to £280, while £365 in cash was also found on Taylor.
‘To sell to friends’
At the earlier hearing, defence agent Stuart Murray said: “Essentially, my client uses cannabis to assist him, as he sees it, with the control of his mental health.
“He’s done that for some significant time, and his mental health worsened during lockdown.”
Mr Murray said that Taylor had been working full-time up until then but lost his employment when lockdown forced widespread closures.
He went on: “He and a number of friends who use cannabis for similar purposes took it upon themselves to buy larger than normal quantities of cannabis.
“It was essentially buying in bulk to reduce the risk of one of them being caught. That was the not particularly well-thought-out plan behind this.”
The solicitor said the cannabis had been bought “to sell to friends” and “not really for commercial benefit”.
Sheriff Andrew Miller interjected and said he was “struggling” with the idea that social supply would be carried out outside McColl’s on a public street.
Offence branded ‘amateurish’
He said: “Generally speaking when the court hears about this kind of arrangement, it’s something that’s going on in a more nebulous way when groups of friends are meeting up in their homes.”
However, Mr Murray explained: “During lockdown, he struggled with a lack of income.
“No income essentially meant no mechanism for the purchase of cannabis.
“He accepts that what started off as something that wasn’t a commercial venture turned into something of a commercial venture for him to have some income.”
Mr Murray said the “amateurish” offence was Taylor’s first conviction and that, at the time of the first hearing, he was back working full-time.
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