Heroin user given chance to get clean

A long-time drug user was given the chance to avoid another jail sentence on Wednesday for being involved in supplying heroin.

At Lerwick Sheriff Court, David Inkster, 35, of Nederdale, Lerwick, was put on a drug treatment and testing order (DTTO), which will be reviewed every month. If he fails to keep clean he will go to jail for about three years. He also hopes to go on a residential rehabilitation course to help cure his addiction.

Inkster had previously admitted his role in the heroin trafficking which took place between July and September last year at his house in Nordvatn, Lerwick. Heroin worth up to £3,570 was found along with £595 in cash and eight mobile phones.

Defence agent Tommy Allan admitted his client was no stranger to the court. Essentially all his adult life had revolved around drugs, the worst attributes of which he had picked up while in prison. He now wanted to break free from the past and had sought help after being caught in the raid. His involvement in heroin dealing had been the only way to feed his habit.

Sheriff Graeme Napier said it was very obvious to him in the past two years in particular that abuse of Class A drugs like heroin had effectively “exploded” in Shetland. “Anybody who has not seen it just has to sit in court day in, day out.”

Because Inkster was considered to be very much down the pecking order of heroin cases he has dealt with the sheriff decided to put him on the DTTO for 18 months as an alternative to jail.