A DRUG addict who used a taxi for a heroin deal was jailed for four years.
Social workers recommended Gordon Donald be placed on a drug and treatment testing order (DTTO) after he was caught dealing – but the 35-year-old looked stunned when he was handed the lengthy jail term.
Jedburgh Sheriff Court was told last week that police responded to a 999 call about a disturbance at Donald’s home in Renwick Terrace, Hawick, on March 3, but found nothing on their arrival. However, officers then spotted a taxi leaving the street with Donald and another man in the back seat.
Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser said a search uncovered a bag of brown powder and set of scales in the back seat of the taxi. The heroin had a street value of £920 and officers also seized two mobile phones and £103.50 in cash.
Donald’s lawyer, Ed Hulme, described his client as a “chaotic long-term drug user”, but urged the sheriff to follow the recommendation of background reports and impose a DTTO.
But Sheriff Derrick McIntyre said: “I am not prepared to give a DTTO for this type of offence. Drugs are a blight on our society, causing crime and misery. Those who deal in drugs must expect substantial prison sentences.”
Donald was given three-and-a-half years for heroin dealing and a further six months for assaulting a Jobcentre employee in a separate incident in Galashiels – both sentences to run consecutively.