Drugs couple escape jail

A COUPLE who have tackled their heroin addiction after being arrested last year for being concerned in the supply of the drug escaped jail when they appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday.

Kirsti Moncrieff, aged 29, and her 33 year old boyfriend Carl Henry Dew, were arrested on 2 July after police raided their home at 24 Sandside, in Mossbank.

The court heard that the couple had both taken steps to rid themselves of their addiction to the Class A drug.

Moncrieff had become involved in the drug through a previous boyfriend and lost £20,000 in savings, the court was told.

Dew had been taking heroin for 16 years and had reactivated a contact in the West Midlands to obtain drugs to distribute amongst a small circle of friends.

Both admitted the offence, but Moncrieff’s involvement was only to briefly hold £500 of cash that Dew had given her. Police found drugs and cash worth a total of £1,350.

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However since their arrest, the couple had both turned their lives around, kicked their habits and are now living with Moncrieff’s parents at 7 Punds, West Baila, Lerwick.

She is training for a new job and he is hoping to obtain employment at Sullom Voe oil terminal, having become a keen badminton and squash player.

Sheriff Graeme Napier praised Moncrieff’s parents for supporting the couple as they strove to tackle their problem, saying it was rare for drug users to be accepted back into “polite society”.

He said: “If those of us who have never been involved (in drug use) are not willing to accept them back into society there is no hope for them and they will just turn back to drug users for support.”

Sheriff Napier placed Dew on probation for two years, ordered him to carry out 100 hours of voluntary work and tagged him for three months, restricting him to his home from 8pm to 6am every day.

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Sentence on Moncrieff was deferred until 5 July to demonstrate she was still off drugs and was holding down a job.

The sheriff said: “This is the third occasion within a few months I have encountered accused involved in this despairing trade who have clearly, since the time of their offending, taken steps to turn their lives around and that seems to have been what happened in this case.”