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. He continued to work as a magistrate in west London twice a week despite potentially being under the effects of the Class A drug at the time.
The court heard last week that Dhillon fraternised regularly with convicted drug dealer Harry Singh, his main supplier, despite knowing it broke the rules for judges and magistrates. He even helped Singh apply for benefits such as Universal Credit, jurors heard. Dhillon, a father of four, admitted using 1g-a-day of heroin almost every day since becoming addicted in 2013, but denied being part of Singh's organised crime group.
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, not as a thank-you for allowing Singh to use his home for illicit operations.
Giving evidence 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 the drug dealer used to supply customers while masquerading as an Amazon delivery driver. Following Dhillon's arrest last summer, police found several mobile phones, a significant quantity of drugs, scales, and a so-called tick-list used to identify customers and their orders in his home. 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 he 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 worked as a teaching assistant, so he did not suffer the financial hardship other drug users faced, jurors were told.
Dhillon, who was signed off sick from work at the time of his arrest, said Singh only attended his home to supply him with drugs or to smoke them together. He said his family—including adult children and elderly parents—never asked who Singh was. The prosecutor asked: '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 found nearly £4,000 in cash in his bedroom. The trial continues.
