HEROIN ADDICT MOTHER ESCAPES PRISON TERM

THE mother of a boy who took heroin to his primary school was placed
on probation yesterday and ordered to receive treatment for her addiction.

Maureen Ferguson pleaded guilty last month to owning two bags of
heroin which her son, aged seven, gave to a teacher at Borestone
Primary School, in Stirling, in October last year. He told a teacher:
"Please take this because it is killing my mum."

Ferguson, 27, admitted that the child had been able to get access to
heroin which had been left lying near a cooker in her council flat at
St Ninian's, Stirling, in October. Her lawyer, Ken Dalling, said
Ferguson blamed her former partner for the incident. He said: "An
arrangement had been made that he would keep the drugs in a safe place
and out of harm's way, but regrettably that came to nothing. Such,
Miss Ferguson now realises, is the reliability of people who are using
heroin."

Ferguson admitted possessing one gramme of the drug, said to have a
street value of UKP90, at her flat. Her plea of not guilty to
possessing a quantity of temazepam at the same address was accepted by
the Crown. She admitted possessing UKP30 of heroin when it was found
at her flat in January in a dawn raid by police acting on a tip-off.

Last month, when sentence was deferred for reports, the
procurator-fiscal, Cameron Ritchie, told Sheriff Robert Younger that
the case had attracted a "great deal of publicity", due not to the
quantity of the drug involved, but to the manner in which it was recovered.

Mr Dalling said Ferguson was a heroin addict. He said that at the time
she had been involved in a "fairly negative relationship" with a
partner, whom she had now left.

Mr Dalling said she had now returned to her old flat. He said: "She's
getting help from the community addiction team and she presents
physically as having made some progress. She is anxious to do all she
can to help herself, and particularly to make once again a family life
for herself and her children."

Sheriff Younger told Ferguson that he would accept the recommendation
of a social enquiry report and place her on probation for nine months.
He also ordered her to have treatment for her drug problem.

He said: "You've had a pretty difficult past in your own childhood,
and now you've got this drugs problem as well."

He added: "It'll be a struggle for you, but you'll have to try." He
warned her that if she re-offended she would be brought back to court
and sentenced again for the current offences.

In October, the boy was praised by education officials and his
stepfather after he handed the drugs to his teacher. Stirling Council
said the incident at the school was "isolated".

After the case, Kathleen Travers, a spokeswoman for the Scottish Drugs
Forum, praised the boy and welcomed the sheriff's decision. She said:
"We were glad to see the mother will get some treatment rather than
going to jail. I think the woman is better off out of prison and being
rehabilitated."