A LARGE kitchen knife was brought into a doctors’ surgery by a drug addict who claimed she needed it to protect herself from gangs.

Musselburgh resident Carol Hanson has been placed on a drug treatment order after she admitted arriving at the surgery carrying the knife.

Hanson, of King Street, appeared at Eskbridge Medical Practice while in possession of the knife.

She claimed she was carrying the weapon after having threats made to her by a local gang and the doctor in charge of the centre, a Dr Ahmed, managed to persuade the woman to give up the knife by asking her to dispose of it in a nearby bin.

Hanson complied with the doctor’s request following their chat at the medical centre at about 5.15pm on August 24 last year.

A worried Hanson told her doctor that a group of men had turned up at her home carrying baseball bats on one occasion and she was in fear for her life.

The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to knife possession during an appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in January and sentence had been deferred for reports and a drug treatment assessment.

And on Monday, Hanson was spared jail when Sheriff Peter McCormack decided to try and treat her long-standing drug addiction by placing her on an 18-month drug treatment and testing order.

Previously, the court was told that Hanson was in the surgery’s waiting room when Dr Ahmed called her and, during the subsequent chat, the doctor was told by her patient that she was carrying a knife.

The doctor asked to take the knife from Hanson but she refused; however, she agreed to place it in a bin.

Police were called in to deal with the matter and the kitchen knife was subsequently found in a surgery waste bin.

Hanson had left the area by this time but officers soon caught up with her and she admitted to the offence, claiming she “didn’t want to hurt anybody” and that she was carrying the weapon “for protection”.

Dr Ahmed told police that the patient had not been threatening towards her, surgery staff or fellow patients in any way.

Hanson’s solicitor said she was in possession of the knife due to “individuals turning up [at her home] with baseball bats” and that she had had “previous issues with local gangs”.

They had turned against Hanson, the solicitor added, due to a drugs death at her home last year.

He added that Hanson had turned to crack cocaine and heroin, as well as prescribed drugs, to cope with the pressure and she had not left her home for about six weeks as she was “scared to go out”.