A man who scooped £5,000 on the lottery and spent some of the winnings on heroin has been jailed for drug possession.
John Cameron, 46, was sentenced at Dundee Sheriff Court after admitting a charge of having the Class A drug.
He was found with 18.2g of heroin when he bent over in Asda, Milton of Craigie, and bags of brown powder fell out of his pocket.
The court heard he had won £5,000 on the lottery shortly before the offence and had given it to his father in an attempt to stop him squandering it on drugs.
However, his dad was giving him the money in instalments and that, together with a “relatively large” payment of benefits, proved too tempting. Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson said: “The accused was seen in Asda by a member of staff.
“He dropped a cigarette and as he bent down to pick it up two bags of brown powder fell on to the floor.
“Police were contacted and the accused was traced sitting on a bench outside Asda.”
He was found with three bags of heroin, which weighed 12.2g, 5.58g and 0.42g.
The fiscal said the payment of benefits had been issued to Cameron shortly before the offence. Solicitor Doug McConnell said Cameron had been in and out of the grip of addiction for many years.
He said: “He was actually in employment and working in a factory at the time of the offence.
“He won £5,000 on the lottery. He gave it to his father to stop him wasting it all on drugs and was being given it in smaller amounts by his father.
“He had just been given a payment and spent it on the bags of heroin.
“He lost his partner as a result of this case and of getting remanded, but he still has the support of his father.”
Cameron, a prisoner at Perth, admitted having heroin, a Class A drug, in his possession at Asda, Milton of Craigie, on August 16. He was jailed for six months.
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