A MUSSELBURGH drug dealer has escaped a jail sentence after he admitted supplying cocaine.

James Livingston, of Monktonhall Terrace, pleaded guilty to the offence at a hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

The 22-year-old returned to the dock for sentencing last Friday, where he was warned the offence he had committed “almost always attracts a custodial sentence”.

But Sheriff Roderick Flinn agreed not to jail Livingston after noting this was his first time at court and hearing he had made his own attempts to turn his life around since the offence last year.

Solicitor Matthew Nicolson said that his client was working full time and left his home each morning at 5.30am to start work.

Livingston was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work in the community and placed on a restriction of liberty order, meaning he must stay within his home between 9pm and 5am for the next six months.

Livingston admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine at Links View, Musselburgh, between December 7 and 19 last year.