Prison drugs 'delivered by van'

Drugs were collected from Noranside car park, the court heard

A convicted drug dealer told a court that heroin was so rife in a Scottish prison that consignments were arriving by delivery van.

The High Court in Perth heard that Charles Anderson, 48, walked out to the car park, at Noranside in Angus, to collect the drugs.

Anderson was jailed for three years and three months after admitting being concerned in the supply of heroin.

He was caught with the drug last July when he was stopped and searched.

The court heard claims from Anderson that every single prisoner in the block where he was being held was using heroin.

Anderson, from Dundee, said he collected his package from a delivery van in the car park and walked back into the prison carrying heroin worth more than £2,000.

'Serious matter'

He was midway through a seven-year jail term for drug dealing and had been transferred to open conditions at the prison.

Counsel James Reilly, defending, said the van had driven into the prison car park where inmates were allowed to freely roam.

"The van which arrived at the prison was the van identified as the one from which the accused should collect the package," he told the court.

Advocate Depute Brian McConnachie QC, prosecuting, accepted that it was possible for someone to take delivery of a package from a van being driven into the car park because of the relaxed regime at the jail.

"The belief is that drugs were transported by a visitor's vehicle which was a van," he said.

Judge Lord Mackay told Anderson, "The offence is obviously a serious matter, particularly as it was committed by you when you were serving a significant sentence for drug dealing."