Drug dealing pensioner jailed

AN ELDERLY drug dealer was sent to jail for almost three years when he appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday morning.

Alexander Goodlad, of 16 North Lochside, Lerwick, had previously pled guilty to supplying heroin from his home address between 15 and 29 July last year.

The court had heard that police found 17 grams of heroin with a potential street value of up to £1,700 when they raided the 65 year old’s house following a tip off.

Defence solicitor Keith Leishman urged the sheriff to allow his client to stay out of jail due to his age, his health and the fact that Goodlad’s drug dealing was a “small scale operation”.

But Sheriff Philip Mann said he was not persuaded that exceptional circumstances should be applied in this case, particularly since Goodlad was not a first offender.

Sentencing him to 32 months in jail, the sheriff reminded Goodlad that he had a previous conviction for drug dealing.

Sheriff Mann has said on numerous occasions that any drug dealer appearing before him would be sent to prison unless there were “exceptional circumstances”.