Man jailed over drug haul

A MAN who was caught with heroin worth up to £900,000 as he drove home from an appearance in court has been jailed for three years and nine months.

Steven Carse, 27, told police he was “just a wee gopher” doing somebody’s dirty work when a car was stopped near Edinburgh and the huge cache of drugs was found in the spare wheel.

A judge heard that Carse had borrowed money from dealers to take his ill partner on holiday, and then had come under pressure to repay the debt by acting as a courier.

“He was in fear of his life,” the defence counsel, Maggie Scott, QC, told the High Court in Edinburgh.

Lord Tyre told Carse, of Gibraltar Road, Dalkeith, Midlothian, that he ought to have known there would be strings attached to the loan, and that he had contributed to the human misery caused by drug abuse.

Carse admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin.