NANNY ESCAPES PRISON SENTENCE FOR SMUGGLING HEROIN

Penal reformers have welcomed possible signs of a shift in attitude among
sheriffs in response to the spate of Scottish prison suicides, after a young
mother escaped a jail term for smuggling drugs.

Dawn Howie, 22, who works as a nanny in Bearsden, Glasgow, was sentenced to
300 hours' community service yesterday after she admitted carrying UKP650 of
heroin into Perth prison hidden in balloons in her underwear.

A first offender, she had been pressured to smuggle in the packages by her
prisoner boyfriend after he was stabbed in the jail.

The sentence, passed by Sheriff Ian Donaldson at Perth Sheriff Court,
follows an unprecedented week in which there were five deaths in Scottish
jails, including Mary Cowan, 27, at Cornton Vale women's prison near
Stirling. In response, the Scottish Office home affairs minister, Henry
McLeish, announced an extra UKP1.1 million and a new task force to
investigate prison suicides.

"This sentence is a positive step in the right direction for those of us
clamouring for alternatives to detention," said Jim Bollan, who has
campaigned for fewer women to be jailed since his daughter Angelan commotted
suicide in Cornton Vale. "This kind of decision needs to be replicated
throughout the court system in Scotland, as the key thing to stopping
suicides is alternatives to prison."

Susan Matheson, the chief executive of the offenders' welfare charity SACRO,
said she hoped that publicity about the prison tragedies was helping to
convey a general message that prison was being overused.

"I am very pleased to see alternatives to custody being used in this way.
Generally, I hope this indicates that the concern about the inappropriate
use of prison is getting across," said Ms Matheson. who is a member of the
new task force.

Howie was caught on 31 October last year after a tip-off. When she arrived
at the prison with her four-year-old son she was taken to a room to be searched.

She was asked if she had any drugs and immediatley produced two balloons
from her underwear. Each was found to contain heroin.

The weight of the drug - which was almost 50 per cent pure - was just over
6g, with an estimated street value of UKP650. The court heard that inside
the prison value was UKP3,2250.

Howie, from Jedburgh Avenue, Glasgow, had earlier admitted possessing the
drug with intent to supply. She said she was going to pass on the drug to a
prisoner, but claimed that she did not know what it was.

The defence council, Donald Findlay, QC, said she was a first offender who
had been put under pressure by her boyfriend after he had been stabbed
inside the jail and was unlikely to reoffend.

"She acknowledges her immaturity and naiivity in taking part in this
offence. She now believes the incident has destroyed her life. She is
genuine in her expression of regret," Mr Findlay told the court.

Sheriff Ian Donaldson said he was taking into account the fact Howie came
from a good family and had a young son to look after.

He said: "You were in some way persuaded that a course of action that has no
doubt cost you dearly was to be embarked upon. I am prepared to be lenient."

Howie's non-custodial sentence contrasts with the 27-month prison term
imposed at Glasgow Sheriff Court in June by Sheriff John Baird on Angela
Harkins, 17, a pregnant bakery worker and also a first offender.

Harkins admitted trying to sell UKP50 of amphetamine and five fake ecstasy
tablets in a Glasgow disco to help clear a friend's drug debts.

'The Scotsman' revealed last week how inconsistency in sentencing practice
between east and west is resulting in far more west coast offenders being
jailed - 20 per cent of all offenders at Glasgow Sheriff Court, compared
with 11 per cent at Perth Sheriff Court.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett