Pizza parlour boss is jailed for Love Heart steroids scam

Vito Alongi was working part-time at Addiewell Prison teaching inmates to cook when he was caught with nearly 350 tablets in his trousers during a search.

The 52-year-old, who runs the Jolly restaurant in Leith's Elm Row, claimed the tablets were harmless sweets, but chemical tests later confirmed they were Class C drugs.

His father, Victor Alongi, today said his son had been blackmailed into the botched smuggling plot by prisoners who threatened his family.

The pensioner said his family were "devastated" following the eight-month sentence handed down to his son at Livingston Sheriff Court, but said they "support him 100 per cent".

Alongi was caught as he tried to enter the West Lothian jail on August 15 after telling staff he wanted to go to his car to get some sweets. Guards were suspicious when Alongi returned looking nervous and wearing two pairs of trousers with an object concealed inside them.

A prison officer carrying out a pat-down search recovered a package containing 226 pink tablets and 120 other tablets, which Alongi claimed were "Love Hearts".

Alongi's 73-year-old father said: "Vito was put in this situation by an anonymous person who posted a package to him at the restaurant. He was told to take them into prison or his family would be harmed. Because Vito is a family man, he acted to defend his family.

"The only mistake Vito made was not telling us what was happening and seeking our advice. He was kind and trusting, but he was under pressure and made the wrong choice.

"Vito was teaching the prisoners to cook in a proper way. He had been doing it for about two years because he liked to help people. Vito is a generous person and they may have seen that and thought they could take advantage of him."

Mr Alongi said his son had been moved from Saughton Prison to HMP Dumfries to serve his sentence, and he planned to visit him tomorrow.

He added: "These drugs had very little value so he was not acting to make a profit.

"The family are very upset and devastated about what has happened. Vito himself is very, very devastated. We support him 100 per cent and we all love him and believe him."

Alongi admitted to possessing three types of Class C drugs worth a total of 75 - methandrostenolone, oxymetholone and methyltestosterone - with intent to supply.

Depute fiscal Graham Fraser, prosecuting, told the court last Thursday that first offender Alongi, of Elm Row, received the package through the post and knew it was "something dodgy".

Mr Fraser added: "He did not know what to do and kept the tablets.He was told to take the tablets into the prison changing area and put them into one of two buckets used for dirty clothing.

"He said the reason he did not take the tablets to the authorities was because he was concerned about the repercussions.

"He appears to have got himself into an impossible position and taken the wrong approach."

Jailing Alongi, Sheriff Douglas Kinloch said: "Whatever your motivation was you made a huge mistake in deciding to smuggle drugs into prison.

"You have never been before the court before and these steroids were of low value and you have produced many moving character references.

"Nevertheless, prison officers are placed in a position of immense trust."