Dungannon man in court over heroin possession

“I don’t want to set him back in his progress (to stay off the drug),” Deputy District Judge Anne Marshall told a solicitor for the defendant, Eoghan McKillion, 36, from Killyman Road.

“I consider that a community order will help keep him focussed and off heroin.”

The court heard how police on Gortmerron Link Road on the night of July 11 had to swerve to avoid a Renault coming in the opposite direction.

They noted that the driver appeared to be looking for something in the footwell of the car.

The officers stopped the car and Mr McKillion appeared very agitated. A subsequent search led to a number of items being seized and the defendant later admitted that they were diazepam and heroin.

Mr Fintan McAleer, defending, told the court that his client had a “long-standing heroin addiction” but had sought help for the issue.

During the period in question he had missed a meeting which had led to his daily methadrone prescription being stopped and he had begun self-medicating.

He said that his client had been clean for five weeks and was “as motivated as he has ever been to remain drug and offence free”.

In addition to the community service, Judge Marshall also handed down three points and £100 fine for careless driving and a year long conditional discharge.