Tommy Scott McLachlan faces Toowoomba Supreme Court for serious drug possession charges

Removing his GPS tracker landed a Toowoomba man in jail, and now he will have to wait months to meet his new-born son after he was jailed over serious drug possession charges.

A Toowoomba man missed the birth of his third child, and will have to wait until December to meet his son after he was jailed for drug possession.

On June 10, 2021 police stopped a vehicle for the purposes of a search, where Tommy Scott McLachlan was found in the passenger seat Toowoomba Supreme Court was told.

The 37-year-old declared he had a glass pipe and glasses case containing drugs to the officers, but as he got out of the car they noticed something protruding from his backside, Crown prosecutor Emily Coley said.

Tommy Scott McLachlan, 37, faced Toowoomba Supreme Court on June 3, 2022, where he was jailed for three counts of possessing a dangerous drug.

A search of the case found it contained 11g of methylamphetamine, and a further search of the car uncovered an express post envelope which contained a further 6.825g of the same drug.

The court was told that after McLachlan was taken back to Toowoomba watch house he was found with folding knife in bag.

Police also removed a package removed from his backside which was found to contain 33 buprenorphine tabs and three syringes.

Ms Coley submitted to the court that McLachlan was “clearly a methylamphetamine user”, and that there was some commercial element to the drugs in his possession, in that they weren’t all for personal use.

In Toowoomba Supreme Court on Friday McLachlan pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing a dangerous drug in quantities greater than 2g.

In making submissions to the court McLachlan’s barrister Scott Lynch said his client knew he had a “raging addiction”.

Tommy Scott McLachlan, 37, faced Toowoomba Supreme Court on June 3, 2022, where he was jailed for three counts of possessing a dangerous drug.

Mr Lynch admitted his client had a sad history that was repeating for McLachlan, as in 2019 he had found himself in the same court before the same judge being sentenced for very similar offending.

Justice Martin Burns said three years ago McLachlan had showed signs of improvement, yet he said they had not yet come to fruition.

The court was told that since his first arrest in 2002 McLachlan had been before magistrate 34 times, and breached bail 13 times after he was charged which saw him remanded in custody on February 24 this year after he removed a GPS tracker that was part of his bail condition, which as a result saw him miss the birth of his third child.

Justice Burns said the effects of drug abuse “were there for all of us to see”, and that he needed to work hard to achieve sobriety.

“I still have hope for you to find a way to rehabilitate yourself,” Justice Burns said.

McLachlan was jailed for two years, three months, and with 99 days time served would be released on parole on December 3.