A drug dealer who moved to the north-east on the order of crime bosses who threatened his 75-year-old mother has been jailed for more than two years.
After racking up drug debts of £15,000, Richard Taylor was told to leave London and deal heroin and cocaine in Fraserburgh.
He used a property owned by his accomplice, 37-year-old Colin Yeats, in the town’s Charlotte Street to organise his shady dealings.
Police raided the property last June and Taylor, 39, handed over a package of illegal substances from his jeans pocket.
It was found to contain 62 wraps of heroin, worth £1,240, and 43 bags of cocaine worth £430.
The pair appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday, where they both admitted involvement in the supply of drugs.
Defence solicitor Debbie Ginniever said Taylor had previously been jailed for 13 months for a similar offence.
“He had an amount of drug debt and was asked to come to Scotland to sell substances in order to pay it off,” she said.
“However, he was arrested and the substances he was carrying were seized, which meant he was set up with much larger debts.”
After his release from prison in November 2016, Taylor had hoped to keep a “low profile” but fell back into his old ways.
Miss Ginniver said: “His previous associates found out where his mother was residing and, essentially, paid her a visit.
“He became fearful or what might happen, but accepts there were other avenues he could have taken.”
Fiscal depute Katy Begg said that while both men had been involved in the drug trade, Taylor was the “main actor” of the pair.
Sheriff Graeme Napier said: “You both accepted your responsibility for being engaged in the unlawful supply of heroin and cocaine.
“It is quite clear that anyone involved should expect a custodial sentence of some length.
“Mr Taylor you have a previous conviction for an entirely analogous matter, while Mr Yeats, you have two.
“But the Crown said you played a less significant role than Mr Taylor.”
Taylor, of Violet Lane in Croydon, was sentenced to 28 months in prison while Yeats was jailed for 24 months.
