A SHERIFF issued a stern warning to anyone helping flood the Highlands with hard drugs from Merseyside by jailing a joiner’s mate for three and a half years.
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist told David Ross yesterday: “It is extremely sad to see someone from a good family that has become involved in this kind of offence. You willingly and knowingly became involved in the supply of not one but two class A drugs to the Highlands.
“The court is well aware of the connection between Liverpool, the Highlands and the supply of drugs, and it only works if people consent to assist to transport them. A custodial sentence is the only appropriate one, as the High Court have made clear.” Ross, 28, of 19A Novar Road, Alness, was found guilty by a jury at Inverness Sheriff Court last month of being concerned in the supply of £4,000 worth of heroin and £2,400 worth of cocaine in the Alness area. He was also convicted of possessing cannabis.
Police, acting on a tip-off that Ross was driving north with the drugs, stopped his car near Alness in February. He denied trafficking the drugs and tried to blame a Liverpool associate, Steven Kitching, with whom he was travelling, but was found guilty.
Ross wrote a letter to Sheriff Gilchrist expressing his remorse and regret for making “some wrong choices” and promised to mend his ways.
Former head of the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency, Graeme Pearson, now a Labour MSP, said last night: “The route up to the Highlands is a well recognised one for gangs from Liverpool and Manchester and many have been arrested delivering on that route.
“It’s had a big impact in the Highlands and brought a lot of misery to that region. Police Scotland need to be assured that intelligence from other forces and the National Crime Agency is being used to try and choke off this route.
“The courts in Scotland issue higher penalties than would be given in England and Wales. The courts are doing their part and the police is doing its bit to enforce this at the Scotland end.”
Highland MSP Rob Gibson praised police vigilance and said the case should serve as a lesson to criminals considering bringing drugs to the Highlands.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard Ross threw a package of cocaine under his car when two police officers were chasing Kitching, who had fled the car.
The jury did not believe that Ross knew nothing about the drugs Kitching had hidden in his jacket. Ross incriminated Kitching for depositing the drugs below the car.
When Kitching was brought down by a rugby tackle by Constable Duncan Jones, plastic bags of drugs were found underneath him.
In March, Kitching admitted being concerned in the supply of the drugs and was jailed for two years and four months.
Constable Jones had told Ross’s trial: “When we got back to the car we saw another package under the car. I could not see any way that Kitching could have put it there. Our only conclusion was Ross had done it.”
When Ross’s house was searched, police found a roll of plastic bags in his bedroom as well as a pipe with cocaine on it.
Defence agent Alison Foggo told the court: “He recognises the error of his ways and had been taking steps to break the habit he had formed as a 16-year-old.
“He had been using cannabis, amphetamine and cocaine and had been trying to break it by working hard for his brother’s joinery firm. He also did voluntary charity work helping the homeless and people with drink and drugs problems.
“My client has made poor choices of associates he didn’t know well but he knew they were involved in drug dealing.”
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