Invergordon man who mistakenly offered drugs to council housing officer avoids jail

A TEXT message offer from an Easter Ross man selling drugs was sent to the wrong person who contacted the police and an arrest was made shortly afterwards.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard that 21-year-old Sebastian Percival was living in Gordon Terrace, Invergordon at the time in July last year when he was liaising with a Highland Council housing officer about his accommodation.

Fiscal depute Alison Young told Sheriff Gary Aitken that on July 23, the local authority employee received a message from Percival offering to sell her a variety of drugs including ecstasy and asking for cash rather than bank transfer.

"Realising that she had got this in error and that he was involved in selling drugs, she reported it to the police." Mrs Young added.

Percival's house was raided by police who discovered 525.97 grams of cannabis, with a street value of between £3125 and £5205 plus £735 in cash.

Percival admitted being concerned in the supply of drugs at an earlier hearing and sentence was deferred for a background report as he is currently on a community payback order. When he re-appeared for sentence on Tuesday, he escaped jail.

Defending, Myhrin Hill told the court: "The report is very positive in terms of his engagement with current orders. He has been working hard to get his hours down. His girlfriend is pregnant and it is his focus to get back on the straight and narrow."

Sheriff Aitken ordered Percival to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work and remain under social work supervision for two years as an alternative to prison.

He told him: "There is no need for you to be an absent father. But that relies entirely on you and your decision making. This was an exceptionally ill-advised decision. Drug dealing is completely unacceptable."