A Liverpool mum stashed 82 wraps of cocaine, worth £2,000, internally as police raided an Aberdeen flat she was in.
Katherine Shannon “banked” the class A drugs at the behest of her partner, a suspected member of an organised crime gang, as police forced entry to the property on Lerwick Road.
The former swimming instructor, 33, became involved after becoming an addict following issues with child contact and building up a drug debt.
Fiscal depute David Ballock told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened on November 16 last year.
He said: “Police Scotland received information that a wanted male was within the locus on Lerwick Road, Aberdeen.
“Officers attended at the property. Entry was forced.
‘He instructed her that she required to secrete it on her person’
“The wanted male – who is assessed by Police Scotland as being a principal member of a Liverpudlian organised crime group – was found in the bathroom.
“The accused was found within a bedroom.”
Shannon was cautioned and detained and, while being searched, advised officers she was “concealing an item internally”.
She produced a package and handed it to the officers, telling them: “He made me bank it when you came in, I didn’t want to, I shouldn’t have, I’m sorry.”
The package was analysed and found to contain 82 wraps of cocaine weighing a total of 33.03g and worth more than £2,000.
Shannon, of Grosvenor Road, Liverpool, pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
‘She ran up a drug debt’
Defence agent Ian Woodward-Nutt his client had previously been in an abusive relationship and, when it broke down, she was prevented from seeing her daughter and “descended into drug misuse”.
She initially started using cocaine and then developed a ketamine addiction.
Mr Woodward-Nutt went on: “What happened thereafter is a situation that is commonly before these courts. She ran up a drug debt.
“She understood it to be around £600.”
He said she owed the money to the man mentioned in the Crown narrative, who she was in a “relationship of sorts” with.
The solicitor said: “Off the back of that, it was made clear to her she was required to accompany him to Aberdeen, in part to clear the dent that was due.
“He was in the property when the raid took place.
‘It seems clear a degree of pressure was applied to you’
“When it became apparent the police were at the door, he handed the package to her and instructed her that she was required to secrete it on her person.
“She knew what the package contained and she did just that.”
Mr Woodward-Nutt urged the court to impose a non-custodial sentence, highlighting her lack of previous convictions and low level of involvement.
Addressing Shannon directly, Sheriff Andrew Miller said: “You travelled from Liverpool to the Aberdeen area apparently for purposes connected with drug dealing.
“When police attended to carry out their proper functions at this address, you took possession of a package containing a significant number of individual rolls of cocaine and, in doing so, you involved yourself in the handling and the supplying of this dangerous drug.”
The sheriff continued: “It seems clear a degree of pressure was applied to you and, in the hierarchy of individuals involved in drug dealing, you were probably at around the lowest level in terms of seniority and influence.”
As a direct alternative to custody, he ordered Shannon to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and be supervised for 12 months.
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