Police swoop lands Lanarkshire heroin-dealing pair jail sentences

Aug 14 2008 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

TWO drug dealers caught with £35,000-worth of heroin were last week jailed for a total of nine years.

Single mum Caroline Glassford and Joseph Mills were seen as ‘important players’ among pushers in Hamilton, Blantyre and other parts of South Lanarkshire.

They were stopped by traffic police at about 8pm on January 6 this year near the M74’s junction 10 at Lesmahagow.

Officers searched their Vauxhall Astra and discovered almost half-a-kilogram of diamorphine – with a street value of £35,000 – in a black plastic bag beneath the front passenger seat.

Glassford (36) of Fleming Way, Hillhouse, Hamilton, and Mills (49), of Ashley Place, Blantyre, denied a charge of selling smack when they appeared at Lanark Sheriff Court.

They both blamed each other for the heroin being in the car.

Glassford, who had £1000 in her possession at the time of her arrest, claimed she had been coming back from Dumfries where she had gone to buy a dog.

However, following a four-day trial in June, a jury convicted both of being concerned in the supply of drugs.

Mills was also found guilty of a bail aggravation charge.

A third occupant of the Astra, Stacey Haley, was not prosecuted.

On Thursday at the Lanark court, Glassford and Mills appeared for sentence.

Glassford’s lawyer Charles Ferguson claimed she was a “family person” devoted to her 12-year-old daughter.

She did not accept that she was involved in the offence but realised how serious the matter was, added the lawyer.

Sheriff Nicola Stewart described heroin as a “scourge” in the Hamilton area, and said Glassford and Mills had clearly involved themselves in the distribution of Class A drugs purely for profit.

Glassford was sentenced to 45 months’ jail and Mills was handed a 63-month prison term.

The sentences will be welcomed by police, who have been engaged in a bitter war with South Lanarkshire’s drug dealers, and people in Hillhouse.

One resident, who is 30 and has lived there for five years, said: “Glassford has been operating in Hillhouse as a drug baron for about 10 years .

“She sells heroin and cocaine herself and also sells it on to other dealers.

“People in Hillhouse will be delighted when they find out that she is locked up but the sentence is too lenient; she will be out in just two years.”

Superintendent Ian Callander, of Hamilton Police, said: “I am pleased that through our actions we have prevented £35,000-worth of heroin reaching the streets of South Lanarkshire and bringing further misery to families in our community.

“We are determined to do everything we can to deter and disrupt those involved in illicit drug dealing.”

Mr Callander said that since April 1 this year, over 30 individuals had been reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with the illegal supply of drugs in the Hamilton, Blantyre and Larkhall areas.

He added: “We do, however, need the assistance of the public and would appeal to people to contact us if they have information about drug dealing in their area.”

l IS there a drug dealer operating in your area? Then shop them and help clean up the county. Call Hamilton police on 483300 or ring Crimestoppers free and anonymously on 0800 555111.