A man caught in Bannockburn with heroin worth £1050 this week escaped a jail term.
John Jordan had pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing the class-A drug at Greenyards Farm Road on June 1 last year with intent to supply it to another or others.
The 30-year-old further admitted possessing cocaine there on the same date with intent to supply.
He had previously pleaded guilty to the offences by letter and sentence was deferred for reports.
Stirling Sheriff Court was told on Wednesday that the heroin had been worth £1050, and the cocaine between £40 to £70.
Jordan’s solicitor David O’Hagan told Stirling Sheriff Court: “It’s clearly a serious matter. He’s well aware of that and well aware that charges of this type are over the custodial threshold.”
The defence agent however added that it was in Jordan’s favour that there had been a significant gap in his offending - and there were no analogous offences.
Jordan had stayed out of trouble for about eight to nine years and had also pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Mr O’Hagan said Jordan had been gambling and had run up considerable debts.
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Pressure had been put on him to pay the money back.
His involvement in these matters, the lawyer added, had been “very ill advised in the circumstances and he realises the stupidity of that”. He was also having mental health issues.
Jordan is also a carer for his partner and they had a young child, he said.
And his partner was willing to have tagging equipment, associated with a restriction of liberty order, installed in the house.
Mr O’Hagan asked Sheriff Keith O’Mahony to deal with the matter through a non-custodial sentence.
Sheriff O’Mahony told Jordan, of Carntyne, Glasgow, he had been persuaded that he could deal with the matter through a non-custodial sentence.
He sentenced him to a Community Payback Order comprising 12 months’ supervision and 140 hours’ unpaid work to be completed within 12 months, warning Jordan that if he breached the order he would likely be jailed.
