Mr. Scotland deals drugs

A reigning Mr Scotland bodybuilding champion is behind bars after drug squad officers caught him dealing.

William Sneddon, 37, was arrested with 48,000 illegal diazepam tablets.

Detectives raided his house as he was unpacking the consignment, which had been sent by delivery van.

Sneddon boasted to them he was Mr Scotland and had no need to deal drugs.

The Class C tablets, known as "blues" because of their colour, were packed into 48 plastic canisters a thousand at a time.

Detective Constable Sharon Cochrane said the tranquillizer was used by heroin addicts to stave off withdrawal symptoms. The pills normally cost £1 each on the street.

Sneddon, who is the holder of the Class Three Mr Scotland title, denied dealing and blamed the crime on a mystery man he named as Allan Russell.

He claimed he allowed Russell to use his home in Queen Street, Stonehouse, Lanarkshire, and said he must have arranged for the delivery of the tablets.

He claimed Russell was a fellow bodybuilder and trained with him at various gyms, but had vanished after his arrest.

Derek Black, 35, who runs a gym at Glasgow Green, claimed he knew Russell and he trained at his gym.

He said: "Russell had a South African accent and we just assumed he had gone back home there to live."

Last week, at the High Court in Glasgow, Lady Smith jailed Sneddon for three and a half years.

She told him: "You have been convicted of dealing in a substantial quantity of diazepam and playing a significant role in the drugs trade which tragically goes on throughout our country."

The Scottish president of the National Amateur Bodybuilders' Association, Mike Mitchell, said last night he had been "shattered" by the news of Sneddon's conviction.

He said: "Bodybuilding's image has been cleaned up over the years, but the publicity this case will attract is a real blow."

Mike added: "These drugs Sneddon had have nothing to do with bodybuilding and I only hope people realise that. I can honestly say that I don't know anyone in bodybuilding who takes drugs."