Jailed drugs gang members get sentences cut

SIX MEN linked to an Edinburgh drug gang busted by an undercover police sting have had their sentences cut by nine months.

Flamboyant ex-boxer James Carlin, 24, is serving a nine year sentence after being found guilty of being a king-pin in a cocaine supply racket.

A trial heard how he had spent thousands of pounds on designer goods, expensive watches and exotic holidays - until detectives posing as Geordie criminals infiltrated his gang.

The police Operation Domino led, directly or indirectly, to the seizure of drugs with a street value estimated at more than 200,000.

Earlier, a number of Carlin's underlings - including his brother Terence - had admitted drugs charges and had been given sentences ranging from three years to five years and three months.

But at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh their lawyers protested - claiming that the parts they had played as Carlin's gofers had been exaggerated.

Judge Lady Paton, sitting with Lord Philip, agreed and today announced reduced sentences for six of the seven who had appealed.

Car mechanic Andrew McQueenie, 22, who had delivered two bags of cocaine, had his jail term cut to three years and nine months.

Painter and decorator James Young, 25, also a drug courier on two occasions, now has to serve three years and nine months.

Darren Sutherland, a 26-year-old labourer who claimed he had been used as "a pawn" by undercover officers and had not played a "pivotal role" in the scheme now has to serve four and a half years.

Scaffolder James Hunter, 20, who denied he was taken along to drug deals to provide some muscle, had his sentence cut to three years and nine months.

James Arthur, 22, a plumber who unwittingly helped the undercover officers source cocaine and supplied them with 19,000-worth of the drug had his sentence reduced to four and a half years.

Scaffolder Terence Carlin, 22, now has to serve three years for swapping cocaine for a flat screen television.

Darryl Coll, a 21-year-old electrician, admitted providing a safe house for the storing of drugs. He failed in his attempt to reduce his three year sentence.

During James Carlin's trial last year a jury heard how paperwork seized during a raid on his Edinburgh home gave clues to his champagne life-style.

He also claimed to have rubbed shoulders with celebrities Kate Moss and motorcycle ace Valentino Rossi while partying in Ibiza.

The trial also heard how shadowy detectives known only as "Kev" and "Tommy" had wined and dined him at a Hibs v Barcelona exhibition football match to win his confidence.