A dealer who flung Class A drugs out a living room window during a Peterhead drugs bust has been given a “glimmer of hope” he will be spared jail if he shows willingness to address his addiction issues.
Stuart Mitchell panicked when police raided his female friend’s Crossfolds Crescent home to execute an early-morning drugs search warrant and threw cocaine and heroin worth around £5,000 into the back garden.
And although the 40-year-old has served jail time before, and has been held in prison since the raid, he’s been freed for now and given one final chance to prove he’s ready to turn his life around.
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that officers raided the semi-detached home, belonging to Mitchell’s former co-accused, at 7am on November 2 last year.
Flung cocaine and heroin out window
“The accused was found within the living room and was seen throwing items into the rear garden from the living room window,” she said. “He was detained and during a search of his person two small white rocks were found within his left trouser pocket.
“Within the back garden, officers searched beneath the window and recovered a wrap containing brown powder, four bags of brown powder and 26 wraps of white substance.
“Officers then searched the living room and recovered various wraps containing both brown and white powder tin foil, scales and a roll of bags.”
They also seized £479.60 and a Nokia mobile phone from within an Adidas bag and a Motorola phone and further white substance from the bed.
One of those phones contained several text messages “indicative of the onward supply of controlled drugs”.
Drugs valued at £5,000
The white powders, white substances and two white rocks were found to contain cocaine with a total weight of 15.72 grams with a potential street value of £1,480.
The brown powder was found to contain heroin with a total weight of 61.42 grams and a street value of £3,020
Mitchell appeared in the dock from custody at HMP Grampian in Peterhead and admitted two charges of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs between October 30 and November 2 last year.
Defence agent Sam Milligan said Mitchell had a “clearly not insignificant” record spanning a “sporadic” two decades.
“Following his last liberation from prison he very much tightened his act up,” the solicitor said. “He addressed issues such as employment and accommodation, entered into a relationship and he was living a pro-social lifestyle.
“He can do it – but the test is whether he can maintain it.
“He didn’t trouble the court for bail however the background reports indicated that during his current remand period, he has reached his 40th birthday and there has been a degree of reflection.
“He knows that if he was to be offered such an opportunity if he doesn’t come back with ‘best boy in the class-type reports’ then there’s only one place he is going and that is back to whence he has come.”
‘I don’t want to pull the rug from your feet’
Sheriff Philip Mann acknowledged Mitchell had been given a “glimmer of hope” that he may be given the chance to carry out a drug treatment and testing order this time rather than a further custodial sentence.
“I don’t want to pull the rug from your feet you having been given that hope,” he told him.
Mitchell, a prisoner of HMP Grampian, was granted bail to allow for his suitability for the drug order to be assessed. He’ll return to court for sentencing in six weeks.
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