Man jailed after £57k drugs find in Bearsden

John McAteer admitted to the supply of drugs at the High Court in Glasgow last month.

He was due to plead guilty last year, but the case was continued after his son died in a car accident.

Lord Clark said, despite this personal tragedy, it did not justify involvement in the supply of Class A drugs.

Police found mobile phones, cash, scales and knotted bags during a raid in July 2015 at a house in Annick Drive where McAteer’s partner lived.

McAteer, now of Old Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire, then told officers “items” were hidden in a pool table and a safe in a converted games room outside.

Officers found heroin, and cocaine was discovered in a garden shed.

Some of the drugs were described as “importation purity”.

Paul Nelson, defending, said McAteer had suffered “one of the worst things to go through as an adult” having to bury his child.

Lord Clark said: “I accept that you had difficulties in your childhood and that you have suffered personal tragedies.

“However, none of these things can justify or excuse your involvement in the supply of Class A drugs, which as you must know cause real harm, indeed havoc, to the lives of individuals and to communities.”