[A] HEROIN dealer who tried to dump his £10,000 stash in a fish tank when police came calling has been jailed for five years.
Callum John Duncan, 30, was detained by officers as he tried to flee through the back door of his mother’s Botcherby Avenue home in Carlisle on March 4.
Duncan was seen to toss a plastic bag into a garden fish tank before he was swiftly handcuffed and arrested. That bag contained 96g of heroin, along with bulking agents, which, Carlisle Crown Court heard, could potentially yield 960 individual drug wraps worth up to almost £9,600.
In addition, police recovered more than £2,000 cash from the address.
Father-of-two Duncan denied possessing both heroin with intent to supply, and having criminal property. He stood trial earlier this week but was convicted, unanimously on both counts, by a jury. Duncan, of Stanegate, Irthington, near Carlisle, claimed he bought the class A substance in bulk, and maintained it had all been for his own use.
He was sentenced this afternoon (WED), and handed a five-year prison term.
Judge James Adkin concluded that Duncan was “dealing heroin at a relatively high level”.
“It seems to me this was a really stupid case to fight,” Judge Adkin told him. “It was an overwhelming case against you.”
