Pub licensee admits supplying cocaine

Published on Monday 24 November 2008 09:12

A PUB licensee who was caught red-handed with thousands of pounds worth of cocaine during an early morning police raid has admitted supplying the Class A drug.

Drugs officers searched The Gauntlet Bar in Edinburgh and found John Mackay, 38, with a wad of cash, drugs and drug-dealing equipment.

Mackay, of Longstone Street, Edinburgh, initially denied dealing drugs but at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine at the bar and his home last November.

He is due to be sentenced next year and the Crown are seeking to recover his profits under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Fiscal depute Sally Clark, prosecuting, said police entered the pub with a warrant at 8.15am on November 30.

They found Mackay in the bar area and two of his friends playing snooker in a function room upstairs.

Mackay was searched and found to have 1165.70 in cash and a "tooter" used to snort cocaine in his pocket, with traces of the drug on it.

On the bar was a bag containing cocaine worth 250, a rolled up 20 note, and a credit card with traces of cocaine.

They searched the office and found a block of white powder with a potential street value of 4100 on top of the desk and 2,000 cash locked in a safe.

Officers also found a sieve, scales and a roll of cling film on the premises.

The purity of the cocaine was between nine and 17 per cent compared with the average 24 per cent for the Lothian and Borders area, said Ms Clark.

Mackay claimed a list of names found in his car was friends who owed him money, but police drug experts believed it to be a "tick-list" said the prosecutor.

Mackay, who has held the licence since February 2007, said the money found on him was the days takings and the 2,000 found in the safe was to pay for a VAT bill.

He told officers he was a recreational drug user who took cocaine every week and claimed he had found the 250 bag of cocaine hidden in a lampshade in the function room the week before.

Mackay pled not guilty to supplying cannabis and amphetamine and this was accepted by the Crown.

His co-accused, Jacqueline Watt, 42, was charged with being concerned in the supply of cannabis and amphetamine but she pled not guilty and this was also accepted.