A former Moray drug addict was jailed on Thursday for failing to carry out a court order to perform unpaid work.
Police raided Helena Fulton’s home in Redburn Drive, Buckie, on February 5 last year.
The officers had earlier gained a search warrant following a tip-off that drugs might be found within the property.
A total of 1,000 diazepam tablets with a street value of about £1,000 were discovered hidden behind the fridge freezer.
Fulton was subsequently sentenced at Elgin Sheriff Court in December to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work for the community.
However, the 43-year-old appeared at the same court yesterday for failing to comply with the court order.
Fulton’s solicitor Brent Lockie said that she had been co-operating fully with the Moray Drugs and Alcohol partnership, but admitted his client had failed to carry out a large segment of the unpaid work.
He said: “She realises that a custodial sentence is an inevitability. I would only ask that the court is lenient.
“The drugs offence is 15 months old and she has not been in any trouble since then.
“And although my client has had a long-standing drug problem in the past she has never been sent to prison before.”
The court heard that Fulton had used the diazepam tablets as a form of “self medication”. It was accepted by the prosecuting authorities that she had not been involved in the supply of them to others.
Sheriff Andrew Miller yesterday sentenced Fulton to three months in prison.
He said: “The order to carry out the unpaid work was originally imposed as a direct alternative to prison.
“The fact that you have breached it means that I have decided to revoke it and impose a custodial sentence in its place.”
