A mum who carried out a high-stakes drug deal has avoided prison after she claimed she didn’t know she had more than £50,000 in cash in the boot of her car.
Alison Dwyer, 37, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where she admitted becoming involved in the supply of the Class A drug heroin when a drug gang threatened to harm her partner.
When Dwyer’s car was stopped by police they found £53,000 in cash, which led them to a hotel room, where heroin worth £64,000 was discovered.
The mum-of-one’s solicitor told the court that Dwyer had no clue as to the value of the drugs and that the money had been put there by her co-accused without her knowledge.
It was stated that Dwyer’s co-accused will undergo a psychological evaluation to see whether he is fit to plead at a later date.
He added that Dwyer had only become involved when her partner was threatened in prison.
Dyer stopped on A90
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told the court that police had received intelligence that Dwyer’s co-accused was involved in the supply of controlled drugs and made him subject to surveillance.
On August 12 2021, Dwyer and her co-accused, who are both from Liverpool, were observed by surveillance officers at the rear of the Northern Hotel on Clifton Road.
Dwyer had her young son with her at the time.
The co-accused was seen entering Dwyer’s car for a short time before then going into the hotel.
He then returned and got into Dwyer’s car, who drove him to his own car.
Dwyer then drove off and headed south out of Aberdeen where she was stopped on the A90, near Laurencekirk.
“She was detained for the purposes of a drug search,” Ms Simpson told the court.
“From within the boot of her car, officers recovered a bag containing £53,870 in cash.
“The co-accused was traced at Kittybrewster retail park and was detained for the purposes of a search.
“From his person, officers recovered £655 in cash and two mobile telephones.
“The key for room 209 at the Northern Hotel was also found within his car.”
A drug search warrant was obtained and the hotel room was searched, where police found a bag containing a cling film package.
When opened, the package contained 232 smaller packages containing 3.5 grams of heroin and 463 packages containing 1.7 grams of heroin.
The maximum street value of the heroin recovered was £64,880.
In the dock, Dwyer pleaded guilty to one charge of being concerned in the supply of heroin.
Accused ‘fearful of repercussions’
Defence solicitor Leonard Burkinshaw described his client’s predicament as an “unusual situation” as she has “no connection to her co-accused” and had “only met him that day”.
“At that time, she was pregnant and her partner was in jail,” he said.
“He had got himself involved in drugs in Liverpool and had a debt to pay.”
Describing Dwyer as a woman with no previous convictions and some who has “never been in trouble before,” Mr Burkinshaw said threats had been made against the woman’s partner and she had gotten involved to “prevent him suffering physical harm” in prison.
“She didn’t want to get involved but was eventually persuaded to drive to Aberdeen – she thought it would be a few thousand pounds of drugs,” the solicitor continued.
“And the co-accused put the bag in the boot without her knowledge.”
Mr Burkinshaw added that Dwyer was “terrified” and “fearful of the repercussions” of what she had done.
Sheriff Ian Wallace told Dwyer that she had involved herself in “a very serious criminal offence” and a “very large drug supply operation”.
But the sheriff also noted that Dwyer had a “limited role”, no previous convictions of any kind and had received threats against her family.
As an alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff Wallace made Dwyer, of Rossini Street, Liverpool, subject to a community payback order with supervision for 12 months and ordered her to take part in a 20-day rehabilitation course.
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