Heroin smuggler who is back on the right track spared prison

A woman who swallowed condoms filled with heroin before trying to smuggle them into Shetland on the ferry avoided a prison sentence at Lerwick Sheriff Court today.

Amanda Cairns, 22, of Aberfeldy Street, Haghill, in Glasgow, was instead told to carry out 200 hours of community service by Sheriff Graeme Napier.

Last year her boyfriend, Robert Bradley, was sentenced to 40 months imprisonment for his part in the exercise. He had agreed to do it after being threatened at gun-point by drug dealers he owed money to.

Sentence on Cairns had been deferred for a year for good behaviour after she admitted supplying the class A drug.

She had tried to smuggle the controlled substances into the isles onboard the NorthLink ferry in October 2009.

The court heard she had stayed out of trouble during the last 12 months, and had obtained part time employment in a shop which, she hoped, would soon become full-time.

Ordering her to carry out unpaid work, Sheriff Napier said her otherwise clean record and the fact she had been of good behaviour meant he could spare her a jail term.

“Justice would be served if you were to serve your sentence in the community,” he said.