An Inverness mother-of-three who blamed her family when she was caught with drugs in her freezer was jailed for a year yesterday.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Rozila Ross, 54, also did small deals to feed her own amphetamine addiction.
But after she was caught by police, she incriminated one of her sons and then her husband.
Originally, Ross’s spouse and another son to the one she blamed were also charged with being concerned in the supply of the class B drug from the family home in Kilmuir Road between June and August, 2014.
The Crown accepted their not guilty pleas. It was not revealed if the other son had ever been charged or prosecuted.
Ross pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of amphetamine and also admitted a previous conviction for drug dealing.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson had deferred sentence until December 14 for a background report. Ross then failed to appear for sentencing before the case was again deferred for a psychiatric report.
The court was told that police obtained a warrant to search Ross’s home in August.
Fiscal depute Michelle Molley said: “Polythene bags containing a white substance were found in a freezer in the kitchen, underneath a bed and in a make-up bag.
“Sets of electronic scales, three mobile phones and £305 were also recovered from her bed and small bags from a child’s bedroom.
“While officers were there, a man attended at the house and confirmed he was there to purchase ‘speed’ from Ross.
“On one of the phones incoming text messages were recovered requesting drugs and some mentioned Ross by name.
“Also recovered were several outgoing messages confirming drugs were for sale in reply to requests.” Ms Molley added.
In total, 231.91 grams of amphetamine was recovered with a street value of £2,391.
Defending, Willie Young told the court his client had tried to convince social workers the drugs were either her son’s or her husband’s in an effort to get a more lenient sentence.
He told the Sheriff to ignore these remarks in the background report. “They demonstrate her lack of intellect and guile. The issue is to what extent she was involved in the supply of drugs.”
Mr Young explained that his client’s son was not in the family home and was using it as a safe house.
He added: “What he asked her to do was attend to any business for him and she saw individuals who had come to the house to request small quantities of amphetamine.
“Allowing herself to be put in that position by her son was a ludicrous one. She didn’t benefit to any great extent, and she got some as she was addicted to amphetamine.”
