A FORMER lawyer caught with "a huge amount" of cannabis resin in his flat has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
Police raided Gerard Nesbitt's home in the Battlefield area of Glasgow in May last year and discovered cannabis in a number of locations, unearthing a total of 31kg of the drug in a search of two properties.
His co-accused, 38-year-old Iain McKenzie, was also convicted of being concerned in the supply of cannabis, and sentenced to four and a half years in prison after their trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Nesbitt, aged 53, who has a drugs conviction dating from the mid-1980s, worked at the Castlemilk Law and Money Advice Centre. He tried to pin the blame on a homeless man, who he claimed had keys to his flat.
Judge Lord Burns told Nesbitt: "You devoted quite a large amount of time and energy to improve yourself and became a solicitor at the age of about 37."
He added: "You brought shame upon yourself and you brought your profession into disrepute", adding that it is "tragic" Nesbitt now has a serious drug conviction.
The employment lawyer and his accomplice were caught during an investigation by the former Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA).
Police went to Nesbitt's flat on May 24 last year, just before he and his partner were going to bed, and found cannabis under a bunk bed, in a filing cabinet and a kitchen cupboard.
Former CID officer Kenneth Simpson told the court it was a huge amount, adding it was at the "middle-market" level of drug dealing, with a potential value of £155,000.
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