Cocaine cache at village house

Jan 25 2013 by Colin Rutherford, Kilmarnock Standard

A raid on a Kilmaurs house netted cocaine with a street value of more than £2000.

At Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on Monday, John Malone, 26, of Habbieauld Road, Kilmaurs, and James Russell, 21 – whose address was given as Barlinnie Prison – pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of the class A drug in September last year.

The court heard that police went to Russell’s home in Habbieauld Road armed with a search warrant.

Inside they found several people, including both accused.

Malone was searched and seven bags containing white powder were found in his trouser pocket.

In Russell’s bedroom, they found another five individual wraps of powder. The substance was later found to be cocaine.

Sheriff Seith Ireland heard that the drugs in Malone’s pocket had a value of £400.

The cocaine recovered from the bedroom could potentially have been sold for £1120 in street deals.

Another five individual wraps recovered elsewhere in the property were worth £100 each.

Scott Gow, representing Malone, pointed out that his client had no previous drugs convictions and had been out of trouble since 2010.

Solicitor John McCluskey said Russell had a conviction for drugs offending and was aware that the court would be calling for reports.

Sheriff Ireland deferred sentence until February 11 and called for criminal justice social work reports.

Malone’s bail was continued while Russell was remanded in custody.