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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Mother and son in £70,000 drug case walk free
The Telegraph Saturday 24 Nov 2001 A MOTHER and son caught after a police surveillance operation with drugs worth up to £70,000 were spared jail yesterday. Joyce McDiarmid, 44, and her son Stephen Burnside, 20, both have previous convictions for drug offences, with the mother having served an 18-month prison sentence. Lord Johnston agreed to allow the pair to walk free from the High Court in Edinburgh after deciding to defer sentence for a year. The judge told them: "I am prepared to give you a chance. I hope that you take advantage of it." They were caught with 13.5 kilos of cannabis in October last year in Inverness, the second largest seizure of the drug in the city. Police were keeping watch on McDiarmid's home in Rowan Road, which she shared with her son, when they saw a taxi pull up. A man, who was later found to have travelled from Manchester, alighted with a large bag. The mother and son later left with him, carrying a box and rucksack, and went to the home of McDiarmid's daughter. When police moved in they found two bars of cannabis resin in the hall and a carpet was pulled aside to reveal a gap in the floorboards which could be used as a hiding place. More drugs were found in the box and rucksack. McDiarmid and Burnside, a baker, admitted being concerned in the supply of the drug. McDiarmid's defence counsel, Peter Gray, said that after she was jailed in 1996 for a drug crime she had vowed never to re-offend. Mr Gray said that as a result of her arrest on the earlier occasion which led to her imprisonment, a quantity of drugs were seized. "The dealers held her responsible for their loss and for what they saw as an outstanding debt. She was told she owed £30,000. Threats were made against her and against her children." McDiarmid borrowed money to try to repay the debts and agreed to sell designer clothing, but was told she was only paying the interest on the drugs lost. Mr Gray said she was told that she would have to sell drugs, but refused and borrowed more money. "It was against this desperate background that the offence was committed." He said that when drugs were delivered to her home she was "too terrified to go to the police".
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