A CARDROSS drug dealer has been ordered to carry out unpaid community work after admitting being concerned in the supply of cannabis – despite trying to U-turn on his guilty plea in an interview with a social worker.

Dominic Mundie appeared in court for sentencing last week after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of the class B drug at his home address in Darleith Road in the village last August.

Sentence had been deferred on 21-year-old Mundie to enable social workers to prepare a background report – and when he returned to the dock on Thursday, his solicitor, Roddy Boag, immediately drew the sheriff's attention to a sentence on the second page of that report.

Noting the report, Sheriff Maxwell Hendry observed: “He's rowing back from guilt as fast as he possibly can.”

Mr Boag replied: “It's a full reversal. But I'm satisfied that the plea was properly tendered, and that that sentence is perhaps naïve.

“He was using cannabis; he would sell some to friends in order to fund his own use, and that's the basis of the plea that was discussed with the Crown.”

Sheriff Hendry observed that Mundie's attempt to turn back on his guilty plea could have skewed the report, stating that the social worker who spoke to Mundie “is entitled to assume that the accused is being honest and truthful”.

Mr Boag replied: “That's not the feeling which comes across in the report.”

Fiscal depute David McDonald told the court that police had gone to the Darleith Road address on an unrelated matter on the morning of August 30, 2016, and that the accused's mother had answered the door and allowed them in.

Mr McDonald said: “Officers noted a strong smell of cannabis and entered the bedroom which was believed to be that of the accused.

“They saw a clear box with 11 wraps of a green herbal material lying out in open view on top of a small fridge.”

Mundie's mother denied all knowledge of the cannabis, but confirmed the bedroom was used by the accused.

Mr McDonald continued: “Officers asked for permission to search the locus due to the items they had noted.

“The wraps were seized. A quantity of clear plastic bags was seized from within the bedroom along with digital scales, a grinder and a clear bag containing individual small clear bags.

“At 12.55pm the accused returned to the locus and was detained.

“He was lawfully interviewed and made admissions regarding the green herbal material as belonging to him. He admitted it was 'weed', and said he smoked one ounce a week and that he bagged it up to cut down on the amount he smokes. He denied supplying it to anyone else.”

The herbal material, which later tested positive for cannabis, weighed 19.2 grams and was valued at approximately £200.

Mr Boag said: “The report bears out the fact he has been using cannabis – or I should say misusing – and seeking to cut down that misuse.

“He is a first offender, aged 21, with nothing else outstanding.”

Mr Boag said the offence was “at the lower end” of the list of drug supply offences.

“If he ever comes before the court on a drugs offence again,” Mr Boag added, “he's liable to face more serious difficulty.”

Sheriff Hendry told Mundie: “A general observation first: some people think cannabis is harmless. It's not. Scientific studies point towards the fact you will be doing damage to yourself.

“Anxiety, depression and paranoia all result from drug misuse.

“You may think you are a small cog, but sometimes big machines require small cogs to keep working.”

Mundie was placed under social work supervision until March 2018 and ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work within six months.

Sheriff Hendry added: “If you do not do as you are directed to do, you will be in breach of the order. You will be coming back before me and you can assume the sentence will not be a more lenient one.”