A DUMBARTON drug supplier caught with cocaine insisted he was only supplying to friends during lockdown.

Michael Kelly, of Castlehill Road, was caught by police with £5,000 worth of cash in his home after cops received a tip that he was dealing drugs.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard last week that police were granted a warrant to search the property and that on June 5, 2020, officers found £5,160 in cash, a set of scales, small plastic bags, two mobile phones and cocaine of up to the value of £200.

Procurator fiscal Heather Galbraith told the hearing on May 17 that police had observed messages that indicated that the 33-year-old was supplying the drugs.

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry highlighted a section in a background report prepared by social workers which said that Kelly had been buying the drug to share amongst his friends, despite him having the potential to make money out of the cocaine he bought.

Kelly’s defence solicitor, Scott Adair, told the court: “The messages he was receiving relating to the drugs came from known contacts. His position as it always had been. That was his situation.

“He had been saving up some cash in the house to buy a car, which he did a week after he was arrested for this matter.

“He accepts that some of that cash would have been used to buy more cocaine.

“There have been fair changes in his approach, perhaps from his arrest and having to deal with his case. It has seen him lead a more social life.

“However, there are clearly some issues that need to be addressed in that regard.”

Sheriff Hendry told Kelly: “I read the [social work] report carefully and one of the things that is disclosed, obviously, is that there is a very personal and close reason to you why have absolutely nothing to do with the blight that is drug abuse in our community.

“You may seek to minimise your involvement in the supply, but the point is that people don’t pass it on.

“You are a cog in the machine and the machine sometimes has grievous outcomes.”

Kelly was placed on a community payback order which will see him supervised by social workers for 12 months. He was also ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work.