A dealer found with heroin worth £1,300 has told a court it belonged to a child who had coincidentally brought it to his Aberdeen home just minutes before a police drugs raid.
Police carried out the bust on William Greig’s high-rise flat after receiving intel that the premises were being used for “letterbox dealing”.
Inside they found more than £1,300 of the Class A drug – although the 51-year-old claimed he had nothing to do with it.
Instead, he insisted that he’d been a victim of extremely poor timing after letting the boy take shelter in his Rosehill Court home.
Sheriff William Summers said he was “hugely sceptical” of this explanation.
His defence agent Tony Burgess told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that Greig had received a call from his neighbour to say their son’s friend needed a place to stay for a while.
He was being a ‘good neighbour’
Greig obliged and welcomed the juvenile into his home.
The solicitor said: “Thinking nothing of it and being a good neighbour, he agreed.
“The neighbour’s son’s friend came into the flat to wait until they returned home and the pair talked for 20 minutes or so.
“Mr Greig left the flat to take his partner to the bus stop so she could go home, and he intended to join her later.”
He said Greig thought the 15-year-old boy was an “older teen” and left him in his flat while he tried calling his neighbour and knocked on their door.
“There was no reply so he went back into his own flat and at that stage noticed there was drugs on the table,” said Mr Burgess.
“He didn’t know what to do, panicked, and made the decision to allow him to be there until the neighbour returned.
“Shortly after the police came through the door executing a drugs warrant.”
Mr Burgess explained that police had previously received intelligence to suggest letterbox drug dealing was taking place at Greig’s address and so the search warrant had already been granted in that respect.
Sheriff William Summers said this explanation and the timing were “slightly perplexing”.
‘I treat that with healthy scepticism’
“His position is that this was nothing to do with the police intelligence and it just so happened that this juvenile appeared at his flat with drugs on the same day,” the sheriff said.
“You will understand why I treat that with healthy scepticism.”
Fiscal depute Kirsty Martin said the heroin, found on November 20, 2020, totalled 27.12g and could fetch as much as £1,330 when sold on the street.
Greig, of Rosehill Court, Aberdeen, admitted being concerned in the supply of a Class A drug.
Sheriff Summers handed him 225 hours of unpaid work and a 12-month supervision order.
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