Edinburgh's cocktail bar owner Callum Woods avoids jail after being caught with £100,000 worth of drugs

He was caught with the expensive haul last year

An Edinburgh cocktail bar owner who was caught with more than £100,000 of drugs has escaped a jail sentence.

Callum Woods was caught picking up the huge haul of cannabis by officers during a drug squad operation at the Capital’s Newcraighall roundabout in April last year. Woods found himself boxed in police vehicles during the bust but he crashed into several vehicles after attempting to flee and evade capture.

During his botched escape, 26-year-old Woods - who owns The Daiquiri bar at the city’s Morrison Street - managed to flip a police vehicle onto its roof. He was subsequently pulled over in his Transit van over by officers and claimed he had been forced into taking part in the drug deal by gangsters who were extorting cash from him. The bar owner, from Leith, said the thugs had targeted him after he took ownership of the popular cocktail bar in an extortion campaign and after demanding cash they forced him into the drug dealing.

The hearing took place at Edinburgh Sheriff Court

Woods pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of the Class B drug and to a charge of dangerous driving when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month. He was back in the dock on Friday for sentencing where Sheriff John Mundy said he had doubts with the “credibility” of the threats claim.

Sheriff Mundy questioned why Woods had not alerted police to the gangsters’ attention but said he was “prepared, with some hesitation, to give it credibility”. The sheriff said he was dealing with a “very difficult case” which, in normal circumstances, would result in a prison sentence but added if Woods’ claims were true then this was “a very sad case and an exceptional one”. Sheriff Mundy said: “I’m prepared, with some hesitation, to give it credibility, and that’s why I have decided not to send you to prison.”

Woods was sentenced to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work in the community and will be electronically tagged and must stay within his home between the hours of 7pm and 7am for the next eight months. He was also disqualified from driving for 16 months.

Previously the court was told Woods, who also works as an electrician, reversed a transit van into an unmarked police car after officers caught him picking up the cannabis haul worth a total of £110,000. Police gave chase and tried to use a “boxing-in manoeuvre” at the Newcraighall roundabout but Woods’ van collided with one of the cars, with both spinning out of control and landing upside down in a field.

Police had approached the Transit van at the Jewel area of the city after receiving intelligence about the drug transaction. Officers tapped on the window and found Woods inside when he then fled the scene, swerving round other vehicles and mounting a roundabout before the crash. A police officer was slightly injured when his vehicle flipped over following the collision and landed in a field.

Cannabis in several vacuum bags were recovered from the van following the incident on April 8 last year.

On Friday, solicitor Richard Freeman, defending, said Woods committed the offences after “living hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second in fear” of what the gangsters would do to him. The lawyer added his client agreed to become involved in drug dealing scheme to “fend off” the gangsters.

Mr Freeman told the court how Woods was preparing to open The Daiquiri bar on Morrison Street in December 2021 when crooks approached him and demanded £10,000 per week in a “protection racket”. He said Woods had handed over an initial £4000 before going into hiding to avoid the criminals’ phone calls and threats. The gangsters then demanded he involve himself with drug dealing and Woods had “panicked” when the undercover officers swooped as he didn’t know they were police.

The Daiquiri bar and restaurant is currently on sale for £95,000 following the court case.