Larkhall Drugs Courier Jailed For 6 Years
35 year old Mark Hutchison was caught with 3 kilos of diamorphine in his car on the M74 near Lockerbie.
A drugs courier who brought a major consignment of
drugs into Scotland has been jailed for 6 years.
Mark Hutchison was caught with three kilos of the
Class 'A' drug with a street value of GBP210,000.
Police found a plastic bag containing six half-kilo
blocks of diamorphine in the boot of his black Vauxhall
Astra after they stopped him on the M74 near Lockerbie
in April 2014.
A jury took just over an hour to find the 35-year-old
guilty of being concerned in the supply of drugs.
They were told he had only recently been completed a
five year prison sentence for smuggling two kilos of
cocaine onto the island of Jersey in 2009.
Passing sentence, Lord Armstrong told Hutchison: "I
accept that in relation to the journey to Liverpool your
role was that of a courier rather than a dealer in drugs.
"The effect of your conviction is you've been found guilty
of participating in the distribution of this evil drug.
"Heroin is a scourge on our society and in particular on
the lives of young people.
"Those involved, once brought to justice, should expect
significant sentences of imprisonment."
The judge highlighted Hutchison's previous conviction
involving another class 'A' drug, adding: "It would
appear, in similar circumstances, you've not learned
from that."
During his two-week trial at the High Court in Livingston,
Hutchison claimed that he didn't know that the bag he
collected from a contact in Liverpool contained heroin,
The father-of-three's lame excuse was that a loan shark
had asked him to up pick up counterfeit banknotes in
return for settling a GBP1,350 gambling debt.
The jury didn't believe him and returned a unanimous
verdict finding him guilty as charged.
Hutchison, from Larkhall, South Lanarkshire, was
snared as part of Operation Lapstone, a major
surveillance operation run by Police Scotland's
Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit (OCCT).
The initiative has resulted in the jailing of members of
Scotland's biggest drug gang, including convicted killer
Stephen Nisbet who ran a GBP1m heroin empire from
Saughton Prison in Edinburgh .
OCCT officers got consent to track Hutchison's
movements because they suspected him of being an
associate of Stephen Nisbet.
Nisbet, 40, was already serving an 18-year sentence for
murder when he had 12 years added to his prison term
last October.
Nisbet's brother James, 40, was sentenced to ten years
in prison after both were convicted of being concerned
in the supply of heroin.
Six others, who acted as couriers, were also convicted
as part of Operation Lapstone, which is still ongoing.