INVERNESS SHERIFF COURT: Father of nine supplied drug to feed own habit but was undone by a dog
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The court heard how family difficulties had led a man to become addicted to amphetamine.
In order to fund his habit, 60-year-old George Reid, of Laurel Avenue, Inverness, turned to supplying the drug, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
Reid hid a package containing 1063 grams of the drug in a package in bushes near the Dalneigh playing fields a few hundred yards from his home.
However a dog walker there got a surprise when his animal returned from a runabout with the package containing the white powder on January 4, 2018.
It was taken to police who found Reid's DNA on the package. Reid had admitted a previous conviction of 2009 when he was jailed for being concerned in the supply of drugs.
Reid admitted the same offence and sentence had been deferred for a background report.
Defence solicitor Rory Gowans told Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald: "He did not have a good family life back in 2017/2018 and he fell into addiction.
"He was in a bad place and got involved in social supply. But this can still, of course, have a devastating effect on the community.
"He didn't make any money out of it.
"His record is otherwise unremarkable, he has not been in trouble since, is back in contact with his family and is enjoying his fishing. There is an alternative to prison here."
Sheriff Macdonald told Reid: "This is a serious amount of drugs. I could easily send you to prison.
"I accept that things have moved on and I am persuaded – just – by Mr Gowans not to send you to jail."
She ordered Reid to carry out the maximum amount of 300 unpaid hours as an alternative to prison.
But she warned him: "If you do not comply, you will come back here and I will send you to jail instead."
