Cocaine ‘sale’ for funeral expenses

Aug 29 2008 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A PERTH man who planned to sell several bags of cocaine to help meet his father’s funeral expenses was jailed for nine months at the Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

The court heard that Vincent Zdralek (22), of Lingay Court, North Muirton, was caught with 14 packets of the Class A drug, with an estimated street value of almost £500, just a stone’s throw from the Dunkeld Road police headquarters.

Depute fiscal Janine Bates said: “Over the years there has been a considerable increase in information received by Tayside Police relating to controlled drugs being supplied from the Liverpool area.”

Shortly after 7am on June 6, a man from Liverpool had just left the Barrack Street HQ after being interviewed in relation to a suspected misuse of drugs offence.

“Police suspected that the accused was an associate of that male and he was also concerned in the supply,” added the depute fiscal.

They approached Zdralek and he admitted he had cocaine in his pocket.

Officers subsequently recovered 14 packets of the drug, with a street value of £470.

They also took possession of £355 in cash, £250 of which he later admitted had made from cocaine.

Zdralek pled guilty to being in possession of the Class A drug and having it with intent to supply it to others.

Solicitor John McLaughlin said that the accused had effectively been left to look after his brothers after the death of his mother and he became “a surrogate parent.”

He started drinking and then moved onto cocaine which got “entirely out of control.”

When his father died, however, he was having considerable financial difficulties and he intended selling six or seven of the bags of cocaine to help meet the bill and recoup what he had paid for the drug.

Mr McLaughlin maintained that he didn’t know the man he had met near the police station – he had simply been asking for directions.

Passing sentence, Sheriff LIndsay Foulis said: “In my view, the circumstances of these offences make custody inevitable.”

He ordered the £250 to be forfeited.