"Highly qualified" carpenter spared jail over heroin find

A 32-year-old carpenter from Longford has avoided a custodial sentence following his admission to permitting the supply of heroin within his vehicle. Robert Nevin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to an offence relating to a controlled substance found in a van he was driving on August 15, 2012. Gardaí stopped the white Ford Transit after observing a red light breach and discovered approximately 120 grammes of heroin, valued at over €18,000, concealed within the vehicle. Nevin had travelled from Mullingar to Dublin with another man to collect the drugs. Judge Martin Nolan suspended a three-and-a-half-year sentence. The defence outlined that Nevin, who had previously operated a carpentry business serving Donegal and Sligo, developed a heroin addiction following personal difficulties and his mother's death in 2007. His co-accused received a similar sentence with a portion suspended.