A drug dealer has been spared jail after a court heard he had started a new – and legal – business “buying and selling”.
Lee Sayers had been caught with cocaine with a street value of over £4,000 as well as cash, scales and a mobile phone.
But a court heard he had since started his own company, which was beginning to generate income.
Sayers, 26, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted a single charge of being concerned in the supplying of the class A drug.
Fiscal depute Grant McLennan told the court that Sayer’s red Ford Focus had been stopped by police as it drove into Merkinch at around 7.40pm on March 7 of last year.
Police searched ‘nervous’ driver’s car
He said: “They spoke to the driver who appeared nervous.”
The vehicle was searched for drugs and a “box containing a white substance” was recovered from the door pocket.
A total of 25.5 grams of cocaine, with a street value of as much as £2,300 was recovered from the vehicle, along with cash and a mobile phone.
A further £2,000 of the drug was recovered from Sayer’s home address following a search warrant.
The search also found “deal bags” and scales with trace amounts of cocaine on them at the property.
Sayers gave a “no comment” interview to police but his DNA was found on a number of the bags that had contained the drugs.
His solicitor Natalie Paterson said a pre-sentencing report on her client was a “positive” one in which he had been “open and honest”.
Drug dealer’s new – and legal – business
She said Sayers was “still a young man” who had a “lack of significant record” and who has since set up his own company through Amazon, which was beginning to generate an income.
“He understands it is serious,” she added.
Noting that Sayers had “converted his experience buying and selling drugs into something else instead”, Sheriff Gary Aitken handed down a community payback order requiring him to complete 225 hours of unpaid work as a direct alternative to prison.
He told Sayers, of Drumossie Road, Inverness: “You may think that dealing class A drugs doesn’t really matter, the courts take a very different view.
“It is only your age and your lack of record that prevent me from following my first instinct in imposing a custodial sentence of several years.
“Ms Paterson assures me you have now turned your attention to dealing something legal. I will give you the chance to do so.”
