A PROMISING young footballer whose career was ended by a serious injury was found with drugs worth thousands of pounds at his family home in a leafy Glasgow suburb.

David Fraser turned to cocaine after doctors treating his broken leg discovered an eight-inch tumour.

And a court hearing was told that as a result of that condition, the 23-year-old will have to have his leg amputated.

Fraser was sentenced after pleading guilty to being in possession of cocaine, with intent to supply it to others, at his family’s home in Dryburgh Road, Bearsden on December 1 last year.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard that Fraser, who played with Baljaffray Thistle up to under-19 level until his injury in 2014, had kept his involvement in drugs a secret from the rest of his family before police raided the property.

According to reports, Fraser organised a fund-raiser in 2016 for the Teenage Cancer Trust after the charity gave him support following his own diagnosis with osteosarcoma.

Doctors discovered the tumour in his leg while carrying out investigations into his football injury.

Fraser’s solicitor, Callum Weir, told the hearing: “This is a young man who had an extremely bright future as an 18-year-old.

“He had good employment, which was effectively a safety net had his football career not progressed as he hoped.

“He was playing semi-professional football. His life was all about health and fitness.

“The accident on the pitch was perhaps fortuitous in that the underlying condition was discovered at that point.

“However the effect, for him, was devastating.

“The life he thought he had in front of him had simply been removed. He has made some particularly poor choices since then, culminating in this matter.”

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry, noting that 776 grams of cocaine had been found in the raid with an estimated value of £31,000, said: “Many people unfortunately face serious problems in their lives, but do not turn to criminal offending.

“He turned to offending which was practically Premier League.”

Mr Weir said the drug trade was “a very cynical business”, and added: “Those who operate it are often shrewd business people, who pick up vulnerable individuals in society who become an essential link in the supply chain.

“I would submit that Mr Fraser falls into that category.

“He is physically unable to change his personal circumstances.

“Amputation is going to happen. That seems an accepted fact.

“Management of the underlying condition cannot be maintained.

“When this came to light at the age of 18, he understandably did not cope with it, and is now taking the correct steps to try and move forward in a productive manner.

“His family had not been aware of what was going on. He was keeping the extent of his own drug use from them.

“The temporary solace he managed to find through alcohol and drugs has put him in a worse position, and less able to deal with matters.”

Sheriff Hendry told Fraser: “This is an extremely serious offence.

“You have become part of the machinery of the drug supply system. You have inflicted misery on yourself, you have inflicted misery on your family, and, if this offence had not been detected, you would have brought misery on to numerous others as well.

“Although you had led a blameless life until December, you have, at a single stroke, put yourself in a position where I have to consider sending you to prison.

“I find that I am just about not to send you to prison today.”

Fraser was handed a community payback order as an alternative to prison.

He will be supervised by social workers for two years, and must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work within 12 months – reduced from the maximum of 300 because of his early plea and his physical difficulties.

He was also ordered to remain within his home every night from 7pm to 7am for six months.

Sheriff Hendry added: “If you don’t do what you are told to do, you will be appearing before me again, and it is highly likely I will revoke the order and send you to prison.”