News / 20 month sentence for smuggling heroin
A 37 year old man who was caught with heroin worth around £7,000 at Lerwick’s NorthLink ferry terminal has been sent to prison for 20 months.
Gregor Manson, whose address was given as Carradale Guest House on Lerwick’s King Harald Street, previously admitted being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug at the Holmsgarth terminal and elsewhere on 13 March.
At Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday, procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said Manson was caught by a drugs dog with heroin concealed internally as he came off the ferry.
The scallop fisherman had “co-operated fully” with the police throughout the process.
Defence agent Alex Burns said his client had taken to smuggling drugs to earn income lost through illness.
He has since “turned his life around remarkably” and had put on “three and half stone” in weight due to better health, Burns added.
Sheriff Philip Mann however reiterated that Manson acted with “free will” when he decided to smuggle.
“This is yet another depressing instance of someone who has succumbed to the temptation of bringing drugs to Shetland for financial gain,” Mann said as he placed Manson in jail for 20 months.
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