A gambling addict who claimed he had agreed to store thousands of pounds of cannabis and cash at his Edinburgh home in exchange for payment has escaped a jail term

Xiaochun Yao was found with more than a kilo of the Class B drug all with bundles of cash amounting to more than £20,000 when police raided his Edinburgh home in 2023.

Yao, 41, said he had agreed to hold the cannabis and the money for a pal to help pay of his mounting debts due to gambling that had cost him his marriage.

Prosecutor Cheryl Porter told Edinburgh Sheriff Court police officers arrived at Yao’s home in the Gilmerton area of capital and entered through “an unlocked front door” on September 6, 2023.

The court heard Yao was in bed with his partner at the time and he was taken to the living room so a search of the pr

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