- Repeat offender imported £2,390 of ethylphenidate
- Drug has been linked to some of Jersey’s most violent crimes in recent years
- Magistrate considered custodial sentence, but sentenced defendant to 140 hours of community service and nine months’ probation
A SERIAL offender who smuggled thousands of pounds’ worth of a ‘destructive’ drug into the Island has been spared jail.
Iain Richard Johnstone-Scott imported a package containing £2,390 of ethylphenidate, a highly dangerous substance which has fuelled some of the most violent crimes seen in Jersey in recent years.
Yesterday the Magistrate’s Court heard that officers at Jersey Post headquarters seized a package addressed to the 42-year-old containing 24.48g of the class B drug.
When Johnstone-Scott was arrested he admitted making the order, as well as importing a second packet containing a further 5g of the same drug.
During police interview he said that the drugs were for personal use and that he had imported them because they were too expensive to buy in Jersey.
Advocate Jane Grace, defending, said that her client was due to be prescribed medication for his drug addiction, but he ordered ethylphenidate because he thought it would have less of an impact on his work.
The advocate said that the defendant, who pleaded guilty to two charges of importing drugs, had co-operated with the police and added: ‘He is now motivated to become clean of all drugs and it is
his goal to do so by the end of the year.’
Magistrate Bridget Shaw said that because Johnstone-Scott had ‘a very lengthy and serious history’ she had to consider a custodial sentence.
‘This is a serious matter, as it is a class B drug that has been having a very destructive effect on those who have taken it,’ she said.
However, Mrs Shaw said that because of the steps that the defendant had taken in his work life, she was prepared to give him a non-custodial sentence.
Johnstone-Scott was given 140 hours of community service and put on probation for nine months.
- The drug – known on the streets as magic crystals – arrived in Jersey in November 2013.
- It has become so popular in the Island that Customs and Immigration officials say the majority of the £171,421 worth of so-called legal highs they seized last year were ethylphenidate or mephedrone.
- The drug, which is structurally similar to the ADHD treatment Ritalin but far more potent, can be snorted, injected or swallowed and is described as a poor mans cocaine.
- It was used to keep front-line Russian soldiers awake and alert during the Second World War
- In 2013 the amphetamine-like substance, which can cause intense highs and severe side effects such as as aggression, paranoia and hallucinations, was outlawed and made a class B drug following major concerns about the effects it may have on its users.
- The ruling, which was signed off by former Health Minister Deputy Anne Pryke, was fast-tracked through the judicial process because experts were so concerned about the drug.
- It was officially made illegal on 20 December 2013 and Islanders who had the drug in their possession were given a seven-day amnesty to hand supplies over without risk of prosecution. [/breakout]
