News / Addict forced to smuggle heroin
AN ABERDEEN heroin addict who was forced to smuggle drugs worth up to £5,000 into Shetland was jailed for almost three years at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
The court heard that dealers from the south of England had beaten up and threatened to drown the 45 year old if he failed to transport the heroin to pay off a drugs debt.
Karl Mortimer, of 76 Linksfield Court, admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin when he was arrested by police acting on a tip off as he disembarked the ferry from Aberdeen at Lerwick’s Holmsgarth terminal on 2 August last year.
The court heard that Mortimer had a severe drugs problem in the 1990s that led to a lengthy bout of offending to raise cash to feed his habit.
By last year had cleaned up his life, however when his mother became terminally ill and died in July he went off the rails and lapsed back into heavy heroin use, building up a £5,000 debt with his dealers.
Defence agent Graeme Murray said suppliers from southern England had bundled him into a car, tied him to a chair, knocked out some of his teeth and told him they would kill him if he did not take the package of 37.3 grammes of the Class A drug to Shetland, a place where he had no connections.
“They gave him the stark choice to pay off his debt by transporting drugs or threatened to put him in a 45 gallon barrel and drop him in a lake. Having had several teeth knocked out he didn’t doubt they were serious in their threats,” the lawyer said.
He extended an apology from Mortimer to the court, saying he had not wanted to get involved in bringing drugs to the isles and that he was getting his life “back on track”.
However Sheriff Philip Mann said he had to send out a strong message that anyone who committed such a crime must face the consequences.
“I accept…that you were subject to coercion, but that’s by no means an excuse for peddling misery anywhere,” the sheriff said.
He reduced the three year jail sentence by five months to 31 months because he had pled guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Mortimer also admitted failing to turn up to court on 21 March, saying he had not been able to raise the funds for the ferry trip, for which he received a concurrent one month jail sentence.
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