Methadone on the boat

A WOMAN from Dundee who was found in possession of two bottles of methadone, which belonged to someone else, has been fined.

Danielle Ward, of Craigmount Place, pled guilty at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Friday to possessing the class A drug on the NorthLink ferry Hjaltland while berthed at the town’s Holmsgarth ferry terminal on 7 July last year.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said 113ml of methadone, worth about £22.50, was discovered by police when they searched her.

The 30-year old said she had been prescribed it, but the fiscal said a man’s name was on the two bottles.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client maintains she did have a methadone prescription at the time, but she is no longer on the drug.

Ward appeared from custody on Friday after failing to appear at Lerwick Sheriff Court on 10 May, which she admitted doing without reasonable excuse.

Allan said she had been banned from taking the ferry north after the incident and didn’t have the “wherewithal” to buy a flight, while health issues meant she had “more important things on her mind”.

Honorary Sheriff Arnold Duncan fined Ward £200 for the methadone offence and added on another £100 for the missed court appearance.