Perth dealer jailed after police shut down city centre cocaine ‘business’

A serial Perth coke dealer serving three back-to-back jail sentences has been imprisoned again.

Scott Kerr was caught red-handed when police acting on a tip-off swooped on a flat in the city centre.

Investigators found the 24-year-old in a bedroom alongside wads of cash and hundreds of pounds worth of cocaine.

They discovered tell-tale text messages on his mobile phone, asking: “I’m after a half bro.”

Kerr, from Glasgow, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted being concerned in the supply of the class A drug between May 12 and 14 2021.

Police raid

Prosecutor Alistair McDermid said a search warrant was executed at the Scott Street flat just after 8am on May 14 2021.

“The accused was found within a bedroom.

“Three others were at the property. All were detained and searched.”

Kerr had £100 cash in his pocket along with a £10 wrap of cocaine.

Police searched the room he was in and found two bags containing white powder in a cupboard.

They were later found to be cocaine cut with painkiller phenacetin.

Mr McDermid said neither of the bags – weighing 2.2g and 11.8g – were recognised deal weights but if separated and sold as 01.g rocks they could fetch up to £1,400.

The fiscal depute said mobile phones were also recovered from the bedroom.

One was examined and contained a text from an apparent buyer.

It read: “Alright bro it’s Jason. I’m after a half bro, can you phone me?”

Mr McDermid said: “The term ‘half’ is common terminology for a deal size of controlled drugs.

“This indicates that unidentified parties were attempting to source a deal of controlled drugs from the user of the device.”

Scales and more than £580 cash were seized from the same room.

Consecutive sentences

The court heard Kerr is already serving three consecutive prison sentences.

In December last year, he was jailed for 21 months for dealing drugs at a property in Perth’s New Row on a date in October 2021.

He received another 18 months jail time for a similar offence in Hamilton in May this year.

Kerr was locked up for another 70 weeks for a knife attack on a man in Perth’s Mill Street.

His earliest release date is March 2026.

Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC was told all the cases post-date the May 2021 drugs bust, effectively meaning Kerr was before her as a first offender.

She told him: “This was an offence involving a Class A drug, where a business was in operation by you.

“Involvement in the supply of a Class A drug is, as you well know, a very serious matter, albeit this was your first offence of this type.

“For that reason, there is no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence.”

Kerr, of Kenmore Street, Glasgow, was jailed for 13 months, to run concurrently with his other sentences.

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