Jail likely for heroin addict

A SHETLAND drug addict who was arrested after a package of heroin worth £4,000 was posted to her Lerwick home is expecting a prison sentence, her lawyer told the town’s sheriff court on Wednesday.

The court heard that 47 year old Desiree Hassan was sent a metal flask in the post containing 27.23 grammes of the Class A drug on 14 September.

The package was detected by the islands’ charity-funded sniffer dog and a search warrant was used to follow up a controlled delivery to her home at 17a Bruce Crescent. She was arrested and has been in custody ever since.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said that he accepted she was not actively involved in dealing, but had only allowed her home to be used as a delivery address.

Defence agent Gordon Williams said Hassan was “realistic enough to expect a prison sentence”, adding that she had a host of medical problems as a result of being a heroin addict for most of her adult life.

Sheriff Graeme Napier deferred sentence for two weeks for reports to look at alternatives to jail, but said it was “almost inevitable a custodial sentence will be imposed”.

He said: “You may not be the ultimate dealer, but you were someone who was a crucial link in the chain. Without people such as yourself the drugs wouldn’t get here.”