A top lawyer has been found guilty of dealing nearly £87,000 worth of ketamine from her Peterculter country house.
Advocate Amanda Lothian, 65, was convicted of being concerned in the supply of the controlled class B drug from Lower Kennerty Mill in Peterculter during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It took a jury of six women and nine men less than an hour to find Lothian guilty by a unanimous verdict.
The trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told police raided Lothian’s former home on August 28 2020 following a period of surveillance.
A search of the house and a black Volvo registered to Lothian – a former member of the Faculty of Advocates who specialised in serious organised crime – uncovered two vacuum packed bags of ketamine, worth £71,620.
A further quantity of the drug was seized from a man named James Hanlon, who claimed he collected drugs from Lothian at the property off Burnside Road.
He was arrested by police and found in possession of more than £15,000 worth of ketamine.
Cash totalling nearly £4,000 was also found in various locations around the £600,000 former mill house.
Witness identified Lothian as drugs kingpin
Jurors heard evidence during the four-day trial that police raided the Peterculter property on the afternoon of August 28 2020 where they found nearly a kilo of ketamine in Lothian’s car.
A sniffer dog named Buster then detected more ketamine within a wooden TV unit in the living room.
Giving evidence against Lothian, James Hanlon was asked by fiscal depute Rebecca Thompson why he had gone to the property moments before he was stopped by police.
“To collect drugs,” he said, adding that he was handed the drugs by Lothian.
Hanlon was convicted of being concerned in the supply of ketamine at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in 2021.
The fiscal depute then led evidence to show that Lothian’s DNA was found on a green Iceland shopping bag that the drugs found within the TV unit were wrapped in.
During defence evidence, Lothian, who represented herself, claimed that she had no knowledge of any drugs being inside her property and claimed she had been a victim of cuckooing at the hands of Hanlon.
She stated that she had “absolutely no idea what was going on inside that house”.
“I certainly wasn’t selling ketamine,” she maintained, adding: “If I had known that there was ketamine in the car, I would have locked the car or hidden [the drugs].
“I just wouldn’t have left ketamine lying around like that. I’m very angry with James – I’m absolutely furious.”
Lawyer branded drug dealing claims ‘absurd’
Quizzed by Ms Thompson about why her DNA was found on the bag containing the drugs, Lothian stated that she had moved them, believing that they were a muscle-building supplement.
Ms Thompson put it to her that Lothian must have “incredibly poor luck” for her DNA to be on illegal drugs she claims she knew nothing about.
The fiscal depute then asked Lothian whether she had started selling drugs to make a little extra cash to pay the rent on the huge Peterculter property.
“No,’ she replied, adding: “I find the suggestion laughable. It’s absurd. I’m not the distributor.”
Lothian described the last five years as a “nightmare” when addressing the jury before they started deliberations and sat unmoved as the guilty verdict was returned.
Sheriff William Summers deferred sentencing for background reports and ordered Lothian, who no longer lives at the property, to return to court on May 26.
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