A man and woman who were caught with more than £10,000 worth of cocaine, some of it hidden inside their bodies, have each been jailed for 18 months.
Calum Findlay, 55, had stashed the contraband up his bottom, while 63-year-old Carol Knox had drugs hidden inside her clothes and vagina.
In total, cocaine worth £10,500 was recovered, with both later admitting being concerned in the supplying of the class A drug.
Findlay and Knox appeared for sentencing at Inverness Sheriff Court.
The court had previously heard how the pair and a third man were in a Skoda Citago that was stopped on the A9 at Daviot on July 22 last year.
“As officers approached the vehicle, they noted a strong smell of cannabis,” fiscal depute Susan Love explained.
Searching the vehicle, police found traces of white powder and a mobile phone, believed to belong to Knox, containing messages relating to the sale or supply of controlled drugs.
The pair were taken to Burnett Road police station in Inverness to be searched and when officers found “a clear gel substance” around the anus of the accused Findlay he confirmed to them that he was concealing drugs internally.
He ‘only did it for a bit of brown’
He agreed to remove the package but was unable to do so and was taken to Raigmore Hospital where he was kept under observation.
Findlay, of Broomhill Road, Muir of Ord, told officers he thought he had cocaine inside him but did not know how much and added that he “only did it for a bit of brown” stating that he was addicted to heroin.
He eventually passed a package that contained 31.66g of cocaine.
Two more packages of cocaine were recovered from Knox, of Drovers Court in Muir of Ord, who informed officers that she had “an item concealed within her vagina”.
This was recovered and found to be a wrap containing 32.67g of cocaine. A second wrap, found in the leg of her trousers, contained 42.2g of the drug.
The total value of the drugs seized was estimated to be £10,500.
Findlay’s solicitor Graham Mann told the court that his client had become involved in misusing drugs and had found himself within the wrong circle as a result.
‘There is no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence’
He said: “The court has at its discretion very serious disposals but I would be asking your ladyship to step away from that.”
Defence agent Duncan Henderson for Knox said: “She is aware that the court does not look kindly on people involved in the supply of drugs, however lowly they might be on the supply chain.”
He added: “I don’t believe that society would be better served by sentencing her to custody.”
But Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald told the pair: “You both had significant amounts of drugs concealed within your bodies.
“In all the circumstances there is no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence.”
