Man on drugs charge pretended to be looking for dog

A man who threw €140,000 worth of drugs into a hedge and pretended to gardaí he had lost his dog there has been jailed for seven years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Gavin Thompson replied: “A small Alsatian,” when gardaí asked him what he was looking for.

The two officers who were on patrol in the area had a few minutes previously observed him throwing a container into the hedge.

Thompson, aged 26, of Doddsborough Cottages, Lucan, pleaded guilty to possession of the drugs, comprising of cocaine and heroin on January 10, 2003, in the vicinity of his home.

The container, which gardaí had earlier seen him throwing into the hedges, was a yellow tea cosy which had bags of heroin and cocaine packed inside.

Experts valued the drugs at €140,000.

Thompson’s counsel, Mr George Birmingham SC, said it was the first such offence by his client who had no previous record of involvement in the drugs trade.

He had only agreed to partake in it to pay off gambling debts.

Mr Birmingham also asked Judge Desmond Hogan to consider Thompson’s good employment record, the support of his family and his early plea of guilty.

Judge Hogan suspended the last two years of the seven year sentence in consideration of the factors highlighted by Mr Birmingham.