Dealer displayed phone number

The court heard Collins was trying to pay off drug debts

A drug dealer who left a mobile phone number in his window for visitors to call if he was not at home has been jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Police arrived at the house where Gary Collins was staying to investigate a separate matter but found a batch of drugs with a street value of £42,000.

He had previously admitted being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs in Kirkcaldy in June and July.

Collins, 31, was sent to jail for four years and 10 months.

Passing sentence, Lord Brodie said he had a bad criminal record.

Advocate depute Adrian Cottam said neighbours in Templehall Avenue, Kirkcaldy, had noticed an unusually high number of visitors to the ground floor flat Collins shared with his girlfriend.

Heroin problem

A mobile phone number had also been put on display for visitors to contact if he was not at home.

Mr Cottam said that as well as more than half a kilo of cocaine police found benzocaine, which is normally used as an anaesthetic by dentists, but can be used to cut the Class A drug.

They also found material for converting cocaine into its freebase form of highly addictive crack cocaine. Officers also discovered suspected drug "tick lists".

The drugs discovered were worth £25,000 but could be bulked out with a cutting agent to make them worth £42,000 on the streets.

The court heard that Collins had a heroin problem and carried out the crime in a bid to pay off drug debts.

Lord Brodie told Collins he would have faced a jail sentence of six and a half years for the drug crime, but for his guilty plea.