A veteran magistrate has admitted being addicted to heroin while sitting on criminal cases for years.
Justice of the Peace Purshotam Dhillon, 59, said he kept his addiction ‘secret’ from his family when he gave evidence at his drug supply trial.
And he continued to work as a magistrate in west London twice a month despite potentially being under the effects of the Class A drug at the time.
He also fraternised regularly with convicted drug dealer Harry Singh, his main supplier, despite knowing it broke the rules for judges and magistrates, the court heard last week.
And he even helped Singh apply for benefits such as Universal Credit, jurors heard.
Father-of-four Dhillon admitted using 1g-a-day of heroin almost every day since he became addicted in 2013, but denied he was part of Singh’s organised crime group.
Yet, the court has heard, undercover police caught Singh regularly turning up to Dhillon’s family home in Hounslow, west London, going inside with parcels and parking his ‘delivery’ van outside – even on days he was not visiting Dhillon.
The former council tenancy officer said Singh gave him cut-price drugs because they were friends – and not as a thank-you for allowing Singh to use his home for his illicit operations.
Purshotam Dhillon, a magistrate sitting in west London, is currently on trial for being concerned in the supply of drugs
Giving evidence to his trial at Croydon Crown Court, Dhillon admitted his relationship with Singh was a ‘flagrant breach of duty’.
He said: ‘I feel ashamed. It’s regrettable, but really ashamed
‘(I’ve) just been thinking how I’m going to support them (family). I’ve let everyone down.’
The court heard Dhillon allowed Singh to park his van at his home which drug dealer used to supply customers while masquerading as an Amazon delivery driver.
Several mobile phones, a significant quantity of drugs, scales and a so-called tick-list – used to identify customers and their orders – were found in Dhillon’s home following his arrest last summer, the trial heard.
He denied being part of the network, but said he was addicted to heroin and cocaine.
Police also found a Government identity card, showing Dhillon was a magistrate.
The court heard Dhillon was paid around £44,000 a year for his job at a local authority, and had paid off his mortgage several years earlier.
His wife also worked as a teaching assistant, so he did not suffer the sort of financial hardship other drug users faced, jurors were told.
Dhillon, who was signed off sick from work at the time he was arrested, said the only reason Singh attended his home was either to supply him with drugs or to smoke them together.
And he said his family – including the adult children who lived at home and his elderly parents – never asked who Singh was.
The prosecutor said: ‘So does it come to this – when the jury go through these photos and see things being carried into or out of your house, your evidence is it is nothing to do with Harry’s drug enterprise?’
Dhillon replied: ‘I have never been involved in that.’
The defendant denies two charges of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs.
The judge ordered jurors to find Dhillon not guilty of one count of possessing criminal property after police searching his home found nearly £4,000 in cash in his bedroom.
The trial continues.
