A woman who feared her family were going to be murdered by Liverpool drug dealers was caught with more than £17,000 of Class A drugs at a restaurant in Aviemore.
Stephanie Lewicki told police the cocaine and heroin she was holding were “collateral” so the gang would not kill her relatives, Inverness Sheriff Court heard.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair said Lewicki – who admitted possession of 250g of cocaine and 2.18g of heroin – got a taxi from Inverness to Aviemore and was then traced by police to a restaurant on the evening of May 15 2022.
Mrs Gair said: “A taxi picked her up in Tomatin Road and she put a holdall in the boot.
“She told the driver she had to say goodbye to her mother as she may not see her again.
“She then asked to be taken to Glasgow but the driver said he would take her to Aviemore. The driver then reported her to police, knowing she was a missing person, and she was traced to a restaurant in Aviemore.”
‘I took this as collateral so my family wouldn’t be murdered’
Mrs Gair added that officers searched her and she had a jar of wraps hidden between her legs.
Lewicki told them: “I took this as collateral so my family wouldn’t be murdered.”
Lewicki was searched again at Burnett Road Police Station and £575 in cash was found in her bra, along with a bag of wraps and a Kinder egg.
The total value of the cocaine and heroin was £17,310.
Defence solicitor advocate Clare Russell asked Sheriff Neil Wilson to call for a background report due to her client’s lack of record.
He agreed and told Lewicki, of Galloway Drive, Inverness, to return on April 11 to be sentenced.
However, the sheriff reassured her that, although these were serious charges, he was not considering a prison sentence but “an alternative to prison”.
Ms Russell reserved her comments until date of sentencing.
