Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Unpaid work for Aberdeen paedophile who exposed himself to ‘child’
A child predator has been given unpaid work after exposing himself in a video call to what he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
Craig Ewing was snared by organised online child protection team Dank Dragon that set up an online profile pretending to be a child.
In a string of disturbing messages, the 42-year-old talked about being “horny”, asked for topless pictures and exposed himself.
Man cut himself and smeared blood on wall of salon to impress women
A man who cut himself and smeared blood on a wall outside an Inverness city centre hair salon did it to impress women, a court was told.
Mohamed Ahmed had swigged from a bottle of Buckfast and smashed the bottle, splashing the salon’s windows before taking a razor from his bag.
He smeared blood from his cuts on the walls of the building – but his solicitor said it had been a misguided attempt at “showing off in front of ladies”.
Huntly sex offender found with more than 400 child images is jailed
A serial sex offender has been jailed after police raided his home in Huntly and found hundreds of indecent images and videos of children on his devices.
Christopher Barron, 29, appeared for sentencing at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he had earlier pleaded guilty to possessing more than 400 images and around 40 videos featuring child abuse.
It was stated that Barron – who already had a previous conviction for a similar offence – had uploaded the indecent content via the Kik application.
Cocaine-fuelled yob stabbed stranger who bumped into him
A yob whose brain was “fried by drugs” stabbed a stranger in Aberdeen city centre after the reveller accidentally stumbled into him.
Zahidur Rahman reacted angrily to being bumped into outside The Stag on Crown Street, pulling out a blade and plunging it into the man’s hip.
The stunned victim immediately lost feeling in his leg and fell to the ground with a 2-3-inch-deep wound.
Man caught with sick photos of children for a second time avoids jail
A man caught with indecent images of children for a second time has been spared jail at Inverness Sheriff Court.
William Cowan had 223 vile photos on his computer when it was seized by police following a search of his home.
The images included 27 that were classed as category A – the most severe – and featured girls as young as five.
Cowan, 44, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted downloading the images between August 1, 2020 and
February 2, 2022.
Teenager accused of endangering man’s life in serious Union Street attack
A teenager has appeared in court charged with endangering a man’s life in a serious Union Street attack.
Jackson Bennett, 19, appeared in private at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of assault to severe injury, impairment and danger of life.
He also faced a separate charge of assault.
Dad-of-five jailed for ‘excessive’ assault while defending friend
A man has been jailed after protecting his friend from an attacker – but then going on to boot the man in the head as he lay helpless on the ground.
Robert Mearns initially acted in defence of his friend when a male jumped over a wall and pushed him outside The Lord Byron pub in Byron Square, Aberdeen.
But the 41-year-old went far beyond that, knocking the man to the ground before punching and kicking him to the head, leaving him unconscious on the road.
Angry and emotional family members leapt to their feet and branded the court “corrupt” in an expletive-laden outburst when Mearns, a dad-of-five, was jailed.
Man convicted of raping three children more than 45 years ago
A man who sexually abused and raped three children more than 45 years ago has finally been brought to justice.
John Raymond Taylor, 61, was unanimously convicted of sexually abusing and raping two girls and a boy at addresses in Aberdeen and elsewhere.
The High Court in Aberdeen heard distressing evidence from all three victims, now adults, about how Taylor started sexually assaulting them in the early 1970s.
One told the court that the abuse lasted for years and “became as normal as having breakfast”.
Home CCTV caught son taking mum’s car without permission
A man who took his mum’s car without her consent and drove it with no valid licence or insurance was caught on CCTV committing the crime.
Jay Milburn’s mum parked her white Seat Leon in the drive of her Milnfua, Alness, home and went to bed, but when she got up in the morning her car had moved and was dirty.
The mum asked Milburn about it and he denied taking the car, however, when she checked CCTV she saw others in the car – and her son at the wheel.
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Architect’s out-of-control huskies savaged dozens of sheep in Kingussie
Three huskies chased and killed approximately 70 sheep during a deadly attack that left a Highland farmer £8,900 out of pocket.
The horrific incident came just a week before the livestock were due at the market, where they were expected to fetch an estimated £125 per animal.
John Craig, 57, of Ruthven Road, Kingussie, pled guilty at Inverness Sheriff Court after failing to keep his pets under control on September 12 2022.
Paedophile caught sharing indecent images of children in secret online chats
A paedophile who was snared by chat logs that showed him asking a teenage boy to send him sexual images has avoided a prison sentence.
Andrew Easton, 39, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted downloading and distributing disturbing indecent images of children to others on the internet.
Some of the horrific images shared by Easton featured newborn babies.
Drunken woman robbed Aberdeen newsagent that wouldn’t sell her vodka
A drunken woman robbed an Aberdeen newsagent – and assaulted the assistant – after he refused to sell her more alcohol.
Kirsten Murison already had two open cans of beer with her when she walked into Sunny’s on Urquhart Road and asked for more alcohol.
However, when the shop assistant did not want to sell her more booze because of her state, she marched behind the counter, pushed him and helped herself to several bottles.
Man and woman jailed after brutal and bloody Fraserburgh street attack
A man and woman from Fraserburgh have been jailed after admitting endangering a man’s life in a violent street assault.
Leeanne Chapman – who was left with blood-splattered trainers – later tearfully told her partner she thought she had killed someone.
Chapman, 40, and Justin Cumming, 46, both appeared at Peterhead Sheriff Court for sentencing over the prolonged attack, which involved stamping on a man’s head in Fraserburgh’s town centre last year.
Man assaulted girlfriend and Asda staff then stole her car
A man assaulted his girlfriend and stole her car after she refused to pay for his supermarket shopping, a court has heard.
Stephen Potter also targeted a member of staff who tried to intervene outside the Inverness Asda store.
When police caught up with him in the woman’s car he was found to be over the legal drink-drive limit.
Aberdeen churchgoer who gives ‘pastoral’ care admits violent domestic abuse
An Aberdeen churchgoer has been ordered to stay away from his former partner after he admitted a two-year campaign of violent domestic abuse.
George McCallum – who gives pastoral care and help to worshippers – appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted punching, slapping and grabbing the woman on various occasions between 2017 and 2019.
The 40-year-old was only stopped when he attacked the woman outside Asda and members of the public had to intervene.
Former Highland substance misuse social work boss in court after six-figure drugs raid
A senior social worker who led Highland Council’s substance misuse team has appeared in court accused of drug dealing, The Press and Journal can reveal.
Lynn Millar, 58, appeared in private at Inverness Sheriff Court this afternoon charged with three alleged offences.
She made no plea to two allegations of dealing cocaine and cannabis along with a charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act involving possessing £2,300 in cash at a property on Dingwall’s Fraser Road on March 6 2024.
Laughing swimmer sexually assaulted girl, 12, at Aberdeen pool
A smiling swimmer sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl at an Aberdeen pool – and then laughed about it.
Mehrdad Esmaeili made a beeline for the girl in the water at Northfield Swimming Pool, touching her bottom before swimming off and laughing.
The child, who had already reported the 34-year-old and his friends to a lifeguard on a previous occasion for unsettling comments, had earlier moved to a different part of the pool to avoid him.
Aberdeen man jailed for stabbing neighbour with kitchen knife
A man who left a neighbour with a partially collapsed lung in a stabbing in a Brechin park has been jailed for four years.
Warring neighbours Kevin Sorrie and brothers 27-year-old Kaelan and Daniel Platt, 22, crossed paths in the town’s public park where Sorrie stabbed the older brother before heading home.
Police later seized a mud-caked jacket stained with Mr Platt’s blood, stuffed beneath a bed in Sorrie’s Wards Road home.
They also found a wooden-handled kitchen knife behind the taps on an upstairs bathroom sink.
Pensioner narrowly avoids prison after he viciously attacked neighbour
A man who sent his neighbour to hospital following a bloody doorstep assault has avoided a prison sentence.
Yan Murray, 69, appeared at his neighbour’s door to remonstrate with him over an issue with a communal door within a block of flats in Aberdeen that both men lived in.
Without warning, Murray then punched the man, causing a deep laceration to the back of his head.
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Rapist jailed for repeatedly attacking sleeping Aberdeenshire woman
An exploitative sex offender who repeatedly preyed on a sleeping woman was jailed for nine years today.
Andrew Wrigglesworth, 42, raped and assaulted the victim at addresses in Aberdeenshire when she was asleep or pretending to be sleeping.
A judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You are aware that there is, in your case, no alternative to a custodial sentence.”
Nairn teen who sprayed ‘Gas the Jews’ and swastikas around town avoids custodial sentence
A teenager who spray painted “Gas the Jews” and several swastikas on walls and signs in Nairn has volunteered to participate in a programme designed to prevent extremist ideology.
Peter Fonseca – who also had a Nazi flag in his bedroom – admitted daubing the “staggeringly offensive” graffiti on property across the town and appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court today.
Fonesca, of Macrae Avenue, Nairn, had previously admitted three offences of malicious damage to property on the Riverside path between November 1 and November 19 last year, on a commercial building on Church Road and the Riverside Park changing hut between January 31 and February 1.
Woman who walked XL Bully in public without muzzle warned it could be destroyed
A Portlethen woman who was walking her son’s XL Bully without a muzzle has been warned the dog could be destroyed.
Susan Reid appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where she admitted not keeping the animal – named Tyson – on a lead or with a muzzle.
The 66-year-old was caught when a concerned member of the public took a photo of the unmuzzled animal and sent it to police.
Man who encouraged ex-girlfriend to commit suicide is ordered to stay away from her
An abusive partner has been ordered to stay away from his ex-girlfriend after he entered her home and carved the word ‘slag’ above the headboard of her bed.
Liam McAllister appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted engaging in a course of abusive behaviour towards his former partner.
The court heard the 27-year-old’s offences included repeatedly encouraging the woman to end her own life – with McAllister even asking her “why she had not done it yet”.
Aberdeen drink-driver crashed into car while nearly six times alcohol limit
A drunk driver crashed his car into another vehicle on an Aberdeen street while almost six times the legal limit for alcohol.
Kyle Burnett crashed on Gardner Drive late at night, startling residents in their homes as they heard the sudden “bang” from the collision.
When police officers arrived at the scene, the 20-year-old was found to be unsteady on his feet and stinking of booze.
Aberdeen drugs ‘donkey’ caught with almost £3,000 of cocaine and heroin
A drug “donkey” has been slammed by a sheriff for making the “stupid” decision to courier almost £3,000 of cocaine and heroin in Aberdeen.
Rhys Dickson was caught with more than 100 wraps of the dangerous drugs in his possession when police, acting on intelligence, stopped him and another male.
Dickson, 23, initially tried to walk away from police officers but was swiftly apprehended and searched.
Aberdeen martial arts expert jailed after raping and sexually assaulting woman
A tattooed Aberdeen mixed martial arts expert who raped and sexually assaulted a woman has been jailed for eight years.
Matthew Wood, 31, also attempted to rape his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, during an assault in March 2023.
The High Court in Edinburgh also heard how he assaulted the female by punching her and placing his arm around her neck. Wood also called her derogatory names during the attacks.
Delayed reports on Skye shotgun murder accused still outstanding just months before trial
Delayed expert reports on a man accused of murdering his brother-in-law during a shooting on Skye are still outstanding with just three months to go before the start of his trial.
Finlay MacDonald was charged with going on a shotgun rampage that killed John MacKinnon, 47, at his home in the island’s Teangue on August 10 2022.
The 41-year-old, who denies all the allegations against him, is also accused of attempting to murder his wife Rowena McDonald, 33, and two other people on the same day more than two years ago.
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