A motorist caught slumped in his car with a needle in his groin appeared in court yesterday.
Ronald Beagrie was found passed out in his BMW 3-series in a lay-by on the A90 Aberdeen to Peterhead road, near Hatton, on August 7 last year.
Officers attended the scene after a tip off about a car being seen driven erratically, and found the 27-year-old slumped over the wheel of his car with his trousers down. A syringe containing a brown substance was stuck in his groin.
A search of the vehicle found about £100 worth of heroin.
Yesterday Beagire, of 24 Cowie Crescent, St Fergus, admitted driving while unfit to do so and possessing the illegal drug when he appeared at Peterhead Sheriff Court.
The court heard that the part-time harbour worker had a previous drug problem, but after this offence had gone to rehab at the Phoenix House in Glasgow.
His defence agent Sam Milligan urged the court to take a lenient view on the drugs charge.
He said: “There was clearly a drug problem in existence.
“Within seven days of these offences he had been admitted to Phoenix House in Glasgow until October. It is perhaps clear that these problems are something that feature in his past.”
However, Sheriff Andrew Miller told Beagrie that although he had taken steps to put his drug use behind him, he had no option but to take a serious view on the type of offending he was implicated in.
He ordered him carry out 80 hours of unpaid work within the community and banned him from the roads for 12 months.
“It is certainly very much to your credit you have taken the steps you have to deal with this problem in your life,” the sheriff added.
Sheriff Andrew Miller admonished Beagrie for having the heroin.