A sheriff reluctantly jailed a “young and vulnerable” drug dealer who owed money to a Manchester gang who flooded Aberdeen with drugs that made their customers sick.
Lewis Connolly 21, admitted being concerned with the supply of crack cocaine and heroin around the Seaton area of the city.
Connolly had previously got himself into debt with a drug-dealing gang that forced him to travel from Manchester to the north-east to sell their product.
But Sheriff Ian Duguid KC said he felt “substantial regret” that he had to send Connolly to prison.
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told the court that in December last year, police received intelligence that a Manchester gang was dealing controlled substances in the Seaton area of Aberdeen.
Gang’s drugs operation detected after customers got ill from their product
According to the intelligence, the organised crime group – known as ‘Manc’ – was being assisted by a male under the age of 16 and the drugs were making people unwell.
On Friday December 8, surveillance officers observed Connolly taking part in a hand-to-hand transaction while another male stood watch.
Police then followed Connolly back to an address on King Street, Aberdeen.
It was discovered that a group was operating from the property and selling drugs in the area of King Street and Seaton Drive.
Officers also realised that gang members were living within serviced apartments on King Street.
Later that morning, officers went to one of the properties and saw Connolly through the front window appearing to conceal items behind a radiator that was directly under the window.
“The service manager attempted to open the door to the locus, however, was unsuccessful,” Ms Simpson said.
Over £30k of drugs seized, including from under rock in back garden
“For this reason, entry was forced to the locus in order to preserve any evidence being destroyed.
“The accused and another male were found within the locus. At 11.30am, the accused was detained and searched.
“On open display within the locus was £1,900 in cash, two mobile telephones, a sim card, pieces of paper with apparent phone numbers on them.
“Recovered from behind the radiator was a package containing 76 wraps of crack cocaine with a total weight of 17.4g and 20 wraps of diamorphine (heroin) with a total weight of 4.6g.”
A police dog handler and sniffer dog searched the property and the back garden, where a bag of drugs that was hidden under a rock was uncovered.
The bag contained packages of both cocaine and heroin.
Various fingerprints which traced back to Connolly were detected on the bags.
The total value of the heroin found was £6,070, while the total value of the cocaine was £25,860.
Sheriff’s ‘regret’ jailing Connolly whose mum paid off his drugs debt
In the dock, Connolly pled guilty to one charge of being concerned with the supply of heroin and a second charge of being concerned with the supply of cocaine.
His defence solicitor Leonard Burkinshaw described his client as a “young, vulnerable individual who was sent up here to work at the coalface” of a drug operation.
“He very quickly accepted culpability in this matter. He has not tried to hide from this at all,” Mr Burkinshaw added.
Connolly’s solicitor went on to say that his client had been “targetted” to sell drugs after getting himself into debt with the Manchester gang.
He said Connolly’s mum had since paid off her son’s debt in the hope of freeing him from their grip.
Sheriff Ian Duguid KC told Connolly: “I have substantial regret about what I’m almost confined in doing in this case.
“I hope that when you come out of custody, you can get out of this cycle.”
The sheriff reluctantly sentenced Connolly, whose address was given as HMP Kilmarnock, to 16 months in prison – backdated to December 11 last year.
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