Canteen worker smuggled sandwiches with cannabis into cells

A young canteen assistant at Edinburgh Sheriff Court was caught smuggling sandwiches containing cannabis to a prisoner in the cells of the building.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Picture: TSPL

In court on Wednesday, 20-year-old Blair Lawson, of Broomlea Crescent in the city, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis resin on March 22 this year.

Fiscal Depute Peter Motion told Sheriff John Cook that the canteen staff prepared sandwiches for prisoners in the cells.

Lawson had taken them down, handed them over to an officer and left.

Another officer, he said, thought the cheese sandwiches looked unusual. He found two packages of cannabis concealed inside them. The cannabis weighed in at over 48 grams, which the Fiscal said would fetch a significant amount in prison.

Defence solicitor Paul Dunne said his client had been in a violent and abusive relationship, not only by her partner, but by her partner’s brother.

He said: “As a result of the background of violence she got herself into this situation. She did this for self-preservation, concerned if she did not do this she would suffer more violence.”

Mr Dunne added: “She stood to gain nothing financial from this. She did not acquire the drugs in the first instance and had no interest other than self-preservation.”

His client, he said, was now unemployed and had a significant conviction.

Sheriff Cook deferred sentence for a background report. Lawson was given bail.