Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Dangerous drink-driver was ‘fleeing violence’
A dangerous drink-driver who was caught at four-times the limit claimed he did it because he was rescuing workmates from a fight.
Lee Cunningham had multiple colleagues in his white Volkswagen Transporter when he drove through Buckie in the dark with no lights on and collided with other cars.
A concerned taxi driver tailed him as he sped along South Land Street, Elsley Place, Netherha Road and Letterfowlie Road while under the influence, mounting the grass verge, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
Girl, 15, distressed after 18-year-old grabs her thigh
A teenager who snuck a 15-year-old girl into his bedroom left her upset and sobbing after grabbing her thigh.
Jason Taylor was initially charged with sexual assault but this was later amended to threatening or abusive behaviour after the Crown determined there was “no significant sexual element”.
That decision was deemed a “remarkable concession” by Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood when the case called at Elgin Sheriff Court.
Trio behind bars for ‘gratuitous acts of violence’
Three thugs have been locked up after carrying out a series of “gratuitous acts of violence” against random members of the public.
Kieran Drummond and George Stewart were just 15 years old when they, along with older friend Daniel Stewart, took part in the attacks on the Hilton housing estate in Inverness.
The city’s sheriff court was told the trio had been drinking and taking drugs when they targeted their victims on the evening of June 15 2019.
Dunelm pervert collapses in the dock as he’s jailed
A man has been jailed for nearly three years after carrying out a “deviant” sex act in the women’s toilets of a popular Aberdeen home furnishings store.
Stewart Murray – who gets a sexual thrill from being inside female toilets – was caught inside a cubicle at the Dunelm store on Links Road.
During a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last month, jurors heard Murray “smiled” at the horrified woman who discovered him.
Domestic abuser jailed after years of threats
A domestic abuser who attacked his partner multiple times and threatened to burn down the house with her in it has been jailed for 20 months.
Garry McClory attacked his partner, also his carer, numerous times over four years and repeatedly failed to keep away when ordered to do so by the court.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told the 52-year-old and his partner were in a “toxic” relationship which was “10 times more trouble than it was worth”.
Jealous man attacked partner leaving her scarred for life
A man attacked his partner on a station platform after learning she was planning a night out with male work colleagues.
Jealous Barrie McDonald called the woman a “filthy s***” and a “f***ing liar” after being told both male and female workers would be at the planned event.
He grabbed her by the neck and knocked her to the ground, where she hit her face, before punching her as she pleaded with him to stop.
Garage owner abducted and assaulted terrified customer
A mechanic has avoided a prison sentence after he abducted and repeatedly assaulted a customer who complained that a car he had been sold was faulty.
Garage owner Martin Heaney, also known as Seers, trapped the man inside Portsoy Auto Services after he was threatened with legal action over the vehicle.
Heaney, 32, slammed the garage door shut to prevent the man from leaving before punching him to the ground and throttling him.
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Drugs kingpin behind bars
A flash drugs boss teamed up with a surveillance expert to carry out a massive drug trafficking operation that spanned Scotland.
James Paterson, 34, and Ian Sweeney, 51, are now behind bars after a lengthy trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Their illegal operation was behind the sale of drugs in Aberdeen, Dundee, Fife and Kinross, police said.
Masked man terrorised family with stun gun
A masked thug who turned up at a family’s home dressed in black and armed with a stun gun was today jailed for five years.
Aden Robertson pointed the weapon towards a teenage schoolboy and his father before leaving, shouting that they were “cowards”.
Police who later searched a communal bin area near Robertson’s then home in Aberdeen later recovered two stun guns, disguised as torches.
A judge told Robertson, 29: “These are dangerous weapons, one of which was fully functional.”
Guest died of asphyxia when cast iron bench tipped backwards
An American tourist died of asphyxia after a Victorian cast iron bench toppled backwards and pinned him against a wall at a Highland hotel.
Patrick McGuire, 67, had been staying at the Glengarry Castle Hotel with his wife and friends when the freak accident happened.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told Mr McGuire was found seated on the upturned bench with his head pushed against the hotel wall and his chin forced into his chest.
A subsequent autopsy ruled the father-of-five had died of “positional asphyxia”.
Drunk dad threatened to murder stranger
A dad-of-three who followed and harassed a stranger as he walked through a town went on to tell police he was going to murder somebody.
Shane Rollo, 35, made chilling threats as he wandered through Elgin while under the influence of alcohol.
Fiscal depute Victoria Silver said the incident took place at around 8.20pm on May 15 last year.
Pair broke into hotel to steal alcohol
Two people who broke into a hotel and made off with a haul of alcohol and cash have been spared jail.
Philip Arnold and Stephanie Norman were captured on CCTV targeting the Crown Court Hotel in Inverness in October of 2020.
Cash was taken from the till and alcohol bottles were lined up on the bar before the pair made a number of trips to remove them from the building.
Drink-driver threatened to kill concerned member of public
A man who was nearly five times the drink-drive limit when he ploughed through bollards and crashed into a wall has been banned from the roads.
Hassan Chowdhury’s crimes didn’t stop there – after getting out of his wrecked car he threatened to kill a member of the public who tried to stop him from leaving the scene of the accident.
And when police arrived and arrested the 33-year-old after the crash in Park Street, Aberdeen, Chowdhury spat at a police constable.
The total damage caused by Chowdhury’s vehicle was estimated at £1,140.
Domestic abuser told mum of his kids they’d be better off if she died
A father-of-three who told his partner her kids would be better off if she died has been ordered to carry out a domestic abuse rehabilitation programme.
Jack Stephenson called the woman a “fat s***”, and said she was “so lazy the kids would be better off without her if she died,” Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
The 32-year-old also threatened to stamp on the woman’s head.
Men rounded on relative’s attacker after ‘rage took over’
An uncle and nephew “took the law into their own hands” and went looking for revenge after a relative was attacked by her partner.
Liam McConnachie, 19, was armed with a baseball bat when he, along with uncle Brian McConnachie, 29, tracked down the man to an address in Huntly’s Meadow Avenue.
During the previous altercation, Brian McConnachie’s sister had been assaulted by her partner in front of his own six-year-old son, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Dog-owner jailed after ‘wanton cruelty’
A Fraserburgh man has been jailed after he carried out brutal acts of “wanton cruelty” on two dogs.
Allan Gillies was caught red-handed on CCTV abusing French Bulldog Reg and Staffordshire bull terrier crossbreed Rex, causing “extreme fear, pain and mental suffering” to both animals.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how the 41-year-old – who has a previous animal welfare conviction from 2017 – was seen on the video grabbing Rex by the ears and lifting him off the ground.
Brazen drug dealer dished out heroin in broad daylight on Union Street
A brazen drug dealer who was dishing out heroin in broad daylight on Union Street was arrested after suspicions were raised by an eagle-eyed shopper.
Jordi Simpson was spotted loitering outside the doorway of a shop and passing some of his Class A stash to a friend, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
A member of the public saw the drugs changing hands and flagged down a passing police officer.
Inverurie boy caught in FA crackdown on racist tweets
A teenager who posted a racist tweet about World Cup commentator Eni Aluko was snared in a nationwide crackdown on social media abuse during the tournament.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suggested that the former England and Chelsea footballer had been brought “back from the jungle” by co-presenter and I’m A Celebrity winner Jill Scott.
The Inverurie boy also posted an orangutan emoji to accompany the tweet.
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Pair accused of child cruelty
A man and woman are accused of wilfully neglecting three children in their care by depriving them of food, making them sleep in a dog basket and carrying out a series of assaults.
David McColl, 47, and Julia Stephen, 65, are facing more than a dozen charges alleging cruel behaviour towards children as young as three over a seven-year period.
The charges allege that two children were dangled over a balcony by their ankles, had hot sauce and Fairy Liquid poured into their mouths and were assaulted.
McColl and Stephen deny all the charges against them.
Aberdeen Boys’ Brigade leader stabbed nine times in her living room
An Aberdeen Boy’s Brigade leader was stabbed to death in her home as she sat eating dinner.
Lam Beaton, 25, said nothing as he knifed Sherry Bruce nine times in the living room of her Torry flat.
The High Court in Glasgow was told the horrific killing on April 3 last year came out of the blue and was totally unprovoked.
Teenager repeatedly punched boy, 15
A teenage attacker who continued to punch his 15-year-old victim even after he’d fallen to the ground has been told he’s lucky not to be facing more serious charges in court.
Morgan Main, 18, was with a group of youths when he attacked the boy on Carmelite Street near Union Square shopping centre in Aberdeen.
Security camera operators witnessed the attack and alerted police and ambulance, who took the boy to hospital, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Drink-driving trainee doctor ploughed into police car
A trainee doctor was more than three times the drink-drive limit when he crashed into a parked police car at the scene of an A9 accident.
An officer had to run out of the path of Shafeer Rishad’s BMW, which hit the police vehicle with such force that one of its wheels was ripped off.
Rishad told officers he “did not see” the marked vehicle, which was stopped near the Newtonmore junction at Ralia with its blue lights activated.
Farm worker repeatedly ran over pig with quad bike
A farm worker has been found guilty of repeatedly running over a pig with a quad bike before beating it with a stick.
Janusz Wadzinski rode the vehicle over the back of the screaming sow around six times while he carried out his work at Clackmarras Farm near Elgin.
His cruel actions were witnessed by two horrified dog walkers, who told the trial at Elgin Sheriff Court how, when they confronted Wadzinski, he told them: “She not do as she’s told” and “I go now and I kill her”.
Former firefighter directed Philippines child abuse
A former firefighter who directed and recorded horrific sex attacks on young girls in the Philippines over the internet from his home in the Highlands has been jailed for 12 years.
Gary Campbell, 59, was arrested following an investigation by detectives in one of the country’s first cases of a Scot directing child abuse abroad.
The paedophile paid for adults in the Philippines to abuse children as young as four years old as he watched in “real-time” on a live stream more than 6,000 miles away from his home in Lochinver, Sutherland.
Drug mule granted leniency
A court has granted a north-east woman leniency after she was forced to become a drug mule for a Liverpool crime gang.
Mary Cruickshank, also known as Sim, was threatened by armed drug traffickers who ordered her to place packages of cocaine inside her body and drive the drugs to Aberdeen.
However, the plot was thwarted when police stopped the car 20 miles outside Aberdeen and arrested the 51-year-old, another woman and two men.
Aberdeenshire councillor who grabbed man by throat walks free from court without punishment
An Aberdeenshire councillor who was caught on camera grabbing another man by the throat has walked free from court without punishment.
Robbie Withey, a former Conservative councillor who is now an independent, shouted and swore at a man who had earlier been asked to leave a party at a property in Alford last April.
The 42-year-old admitted to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner but Justice Jacqueline Mann gave him an absolute discharge at Aberdeen Justice of the Peace Court on Friday.
A not-guilty plea to a charge of assault had been accepted by the Crown.
Pensioner denies £35,000 ‘con’ to make daughter a Hollywood star
A Highland pensioner has gone on trial accused of conning her businessman brother out of more than £35,000 to help her daughter rise to Hollywood stardom.
Ann Dunlop, 67, denies obtaining £35,368 by fraud from David Bunton as well as other family members between March and December 2016.
It’s alleged that Ms Dunlop, of Beauly, told her relative that his niece Heather was being lined up for big acting roles and was mingling with A-list celebrities – including Leonardo Di Caprio, Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
But the 51-year-old claimed he became suspicious after a Chanel advert that Heather said she was starring in did not appear.
The summary trial, without a jury, continues next month before Sheriff Kevin McCarron.
Aberdeen man avoids prison after ‘shocking’ dangerous driving episode
An Aberdeen man has avoided a prison sentence after a “shocking” episode of dangerous driving.
Kyle Buchan admitted driving his Vauxhall Astra into a traffic light and going in the wrong direction up a one-way street while under the influence of drink or drugs.
The 24-year-old drove his car on a number of occasions while incapacitated.
He was also found by police asleep in his vehicle on the A92 with the engine still running.
Single mum spared jail after dealing cocaine to pay off brother’s drugs debt
A single mum who claimed she dealt cocaine to pay off a drugs debt that she “inherited” from her brother has been spared jail.
Maria Stewart, 30, was caught with a white powder, weighing scales, ziplock bags, mobile phones and cash at her home, when police searched the property in Beauly.
Her solicitor told the court that Stewart turned to drug dealing to pay off the debt.
Dealer threw £4k of cocaine and heroin out of flat window during raid
A drug mule chucked more than £4,000 of cocaine and heroin out of his high-rise window as police raided the dealer’s flat in Aberdeen.
Kaine Jones claimed he was pressured into smuggling the Class A drugs package from Birmingham to Aberdeen for his dealers.
They’d promised to cancel the addict’s drug debts in return for the favour, his solicitor told a court.
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