Dad of three jailed after 100kg drug find

A father-of-three has been jailed after 93kg of cannabis and 10kg of amphetamine were discovered in his flat. Picture: Getty

• A father-of-three has been jailed for three years after 100kg of cannabis was discovered at his flat

• Graeme Stear had over 90kg of cannabis and 10kg of amphetamine seized at his home in Bathgate, West Lothian

Graeme Stear said he stashed the drugs at his home in Bathgate, West Lothian to pay off a three-figure drugs debt.

Police seized 93kg of cannabis and 10kg of amphetamine during a raid of Stear’s home on September 15 last year.

The value of the drugs was around £500,000, officers said.

Unemployed Stear, who turns 38 tomorrow, pleaded guilty at an earlier court hearing to storing the drugs.

He was jailed for three years and four months at the High Court in Edinburgh today.

Passing sentence, judge Lord Uist said: “You were addicted to cannabis and amphetamines and you say that you held these drugs in order to pay off a £600 drugs debt.

“You maintain that when you made the arrangement to provide warehousing for the drugs you did not know that such a large quantity was involved. Fortunately the police were able to intercept the drugs and thus prevent them getting onto the streets.

“I note that you co-operated with the police when they raided your flat but also that there were children there when you were storing the drugs. You must have known the considerable risk which you were running when you agreed to store the drugs and you must now take the consequences.”

The judge’s comments were contained in a sentencing statement issued after the hearing.

Stear had one other minor conviction, from 1993, which did not result in a custodial sentence, the court heard.

After the sentencing, Police Scotland highlighted other cases in which men were targeted in an intelligence-led operation to tackle drugs supply in West Lothian.

Colin Flannigan, 45, was recently jailed for three years for attempting to transport large quantities of drugs into the region, officers said.

John Gorrian, 49, and Steven Gibb, 20, were also given prison sentences at the High Court in Edinburgh for similar offences, police said.

Gorrian was sentenced to five years in jail, while Gibb was given four years. Both were stopped on the M8 at Harthill in May last year and found to be in possession of class B and class D drugs.