News / Ex addict escapes jail
AN ABERDEEN man who admitted possessing heroin worth almost £1,000 with intent to supply escaped a prison sentence at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday.
Nicholas Stokes, aged 48, of 35b Menzies Road, was arrested when police searched a house in Sandveien, Lerwick, on 28 August last year and found him with eight grams of the class A drug.
The court was told that the 48 year old had travelled to the islands with and acquaintance and appeared to have stolen the drugs from him, intending to share them with friends.
Stokes had subsequently entered a methadone programme to drop his addiction.
Defence agent Lynn Bentley said that Stokes had only become a heroin user“fairly late in life” and had reduced his consumption of methadone from daily to weekly, testing negative for illegal drugs for the past three months.
Sheriff Graeme Napier said he took a very dim view of people coming up from Aberdeen with drugs, but he accepted that Stokes was not the person who had actually imported the heroin.
He restricted his sentence to 12 months probation and 160 hours communityservice as Stokes had taken steps to deal with his drug problem.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
