Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Woman who embezzled £72,000 from Royal food supplier avoids prison
A woman who embezzled more than £72,000 from the north-east firm that supplies food to the Royal Family has avoided a prison sentence.
Michelle Wilson scammed the huge sum of money from Donald Russell Ltd while working there as a customer service team leader.
The 48-year-old – who had worked at the Inverurie firm for 12 years – cheated her employer by issuing more than 350 fake refunds to three bank cards belonging to her, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard.
Aberdeen couple caught ignoring lifetime ban on keeping animals
An Aberdeen couple who were given a lifetime ban on keeping animals last year admitted flouting the order the very same day it was imposed.
John Symon, 43, and Victoria Symon, 38, received the ban last year after they were found to have neglected 60 animals which were found in squalid conditions crammed into their flat.
John Symon previously admitted three charges of causing an animal unnecessary suffering and two charges of failing to meet the needs of an animal.
Victoria Symon previously admitted one charge of causing an animal unnecessary suffering.
Valentine’s Day unprovoked assault lands Fraserburgh man court
A Fraserburgh man who was having a romantic break in Aberdeen assaulted a fellow guest at his city centre hotel.
Joe Wisely had been out for a Valentine’s Day date with his wife when they returned to their lodgings at Craibstone Suites.
The 39-year-old admitted repeatedly punching his victim during the drink-fuelled attack outside the hotel.
Peterhead man facing lengthy jail term after admitting rape and sexual abuse of children
A Peterhead man has been locked up after admitting raping a child and sexually assaulting another over a prolonged period.
Russell Maitland initially denied the historic offences but entered a guilty plea before the trial began.
The 37-year-old appeared at the High Court in Aberdeen charged with two counts of raping children under the age of 13, but one of the charges was reduced to sexual assault.
Speeding driver behind bars after killing two holidaymakers in A85 crash
A speeding driver who killed two holidaymakers in a horror head-on smash on the A85 in Argyll is behind bars today.
George Murphy, 55, caused the crash after trying to overtake four vehicles, including a bus, on a blind summit and bend.
Martin and Josephine Cousland, of Anstruther, Fife, sadly never survived the collision after their Audi Q2 was struck.
Teenager set fire to curtains during cigarette break at Portsoy care home
An 18-year-old sparked a care home blaze after she set fire to curtains while having a cigarette break.
Morgan Low started the fire at Durnhythe Care Home in Portsoy then lied to colleagues and police to cover up her crime, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Low’s own solicitor described the incident as “stupidity” – and said it “beggars belief” that his client would act in the way she did.
Sheriff tells Nairn dad who sexually assaulted women and called them Barbie ‘this was just wrong’
A man who called women “Barbie” before touching them inappropriately has been spared jail at Inverness Sheriff Court.
Passing sentence, Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald dismissed claims by Peter Rozgonyi, who is Hungarian, that there was a “cultural” explanation for his actions.
She told him: “This was not cultural, this was just wrong.”
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Man admits sex assault on sleeping woman he met in Inverness bar
A man has admitted sexually assaulting a woman who had fallen asleep after a night out.
Dylan MacDonald had already been told to stop kissing the woman on her shoulder and breast before he put his hand inside her shorts and touched her intimately.
MacDonald, 21, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of sexually assaulting the woman at an address in the city on August 19 of last year.
Diego the dog spared death sentence after biting deliver man
A German shepherd dog who bit a delivery driver on the hand has been shown mercy by a sheriff who decided against handing him a death sentence.
But Diego’s owner Janet MacFarlane was instructed by Sheriff Sara Matheson to keep him muzzled and on a lead when out in public.
Inverness Sheriff Court previously heard how Diego bit the worker through a gap in the gate, leaving him needing stitches.
Ice cream van targeted by drug addict in frightening firebomb attack
A couple who run an ice cream business say they are baffled as to why an Aberdeen drug addict doused their van with petrol and tried to set it on fire.
Jamie Howell was dressed all in black when he turned up in the quiet village of Daviot near Oldmeldrum and targeted Elizabeth Taylor and Neil Robertson’s Miss Whippy Delight van.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told Howell, 40, had accrued a debt and had been sent to torch the van to give the couple “a scare”.
Pensioner caught dealing prescription drugs from her Aberdeen home
A 70-year-old woman who was caught dealing thousands of pounds worth of anti-anxiety and sleeping pills from her home has avoided a prison sentence.
Aberdeen pensioner Eileen Gill had more than £8,000 of drugs, such as Diazepam, Pregabalin, Zopiclone and Alprazolam, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Police found pills and capsules of the drugs in Gill’s house and more drugs within a holdall in her car.
Careless young drink-driver caused crash on Highland road
A careless drink-driver caused a crash on a Highland road just months after passing his test.
Fergus Sherlock was more than double the limit when he attempted an “ill-advised” overtake on the A95 at its junction with the B9152, near Granish.
No one was injured in the collision but a sheriff told Sherlock: “You are very lucky that this accident wasn’t more serious.”
‘Heil Hitler’: Injured Inverness man left police covered in blood
Police were subjected to a tirade of foul language and racist abuse after they went to help an injured man in Inverness city centre.
Mark Macdonald was nursing a head wound in the city’s High Street but started shouting, swearing and using the n-word when officers arrived.
Even when they managed to get him to Raigmore Hospital for treatment his abuse didn’t stop and he told officers: “I hope you die” and “Heil Hitler”.
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Every day our reporters are sitting in courtrooms around the area and now you can get their stories sent directly to you, five days a week.
‘I’ve never stolen a car before’: Inverness thief caught on dashcam
A car thief was snared after the dashcam on a Mercedes he was stealing caught him red-handed in more ways than one.
An audio recording captured Anthony Jackson lamenting how difficult it was to steal the expensive vehicle, which was left so smeared in blood.
“F***ing hell,” he was heard saying, “this is hard to do”.
Careless driver caused horrific three-vehicle crash on the A9
A driver who miraculously survived a three-vehicle crash on the A9 in Sutherland has been fined almost £3,000 for causing the collision.
Kevin Whitehead crossed the centre lines of the road as he negotiated a bend, crashing into two vans coming in the opposite direction.
The crash left a passenger from one van with a broken sternum, while Whitehead himself suffered a bleed on the brain.
Whitehead, 38, had initially denied a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Highland hotel boss dubbed ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ in emails that triggered £100m lawsuit
A Highland hotel boss launched a £100 million lawsuit after reading emails in which staff from a major bank accused him of having an “islander mentality”.
Macdonald Hotels Ltd (MHL) – which owns hotels and resorts across Scotland, including Aberdeen, Aviemore and Inverness – was embroiled in a dispute with Bank of Scotland when the emails came to light.
Chief executive officer Donald Macdonald believed the bank had exerted undue pressure on his company to sell properties, but regarded the insults as the last straw.
Brenda Page’s murderer fails in latest bid to clear name
Lawyers for the man who murdered Aberdeen scientist Brenda Page have failed to convince judges to give them more time to prepare his appeal against conviction and sentence.
Christopher Harrisson, Brenda’s ex-husband, instructed his advocate Gordon Jackson KC to address the Court of Criminal Appeal today.
Mr Jackson told judges Lady Wise, Lord Armstrong and Lord Beckett for an extension to the time they have to prepare their case.
Repeat Highland fare dodger assaulted railway worker
A fare dodger who was caught twice in one day without a ticket assaulted a member of railway staff and resisted police officers.
Ghale Ahmed struck the railway employee as they attempted to escort him from Inverness train station.
Later that day he struggled with police officers who arrived to remove him from a train at Nairn station.
Inverness driver who had been drinking fled from police and hid in skip
An uninsured driver who had been drinking fled from police and hid in a skip.
Toby Crace-Eales had already failed a roadside breath test when he got out of the police car and ran away.
He tried to conceal himself inside a waste skip but was found by officers who took him to the police station, where he failed to provide a further sample
Skye man guilty of murder and attempted murders
A Skye man accused of murdering his brother-in-law and attempting to murder three other people was this afternoon found guilty and jailed for a minimum of 28 years.
Finlay MacDonald, 41, had denied murdering John MacKinnon at his home at Teangue, on Skye, on August 10 2022, by firing a shotgun at him.
He also denied attempting to murder his wife Rowena, 34, on the same day at the family home at Tarskavaig, on Skye, by repeatedly stabbing her.
Serial Inverness rapist who blames victim locked up for eight years
A victim-blaming rapist who spent more than a decade subjecting a woman to repeated rapes and sexual assaults has been jailed for eight years.
Alastair Coote, 61, assaulted the female, who cannot be named for legal reasons, between April 2008 and June 2022 at locations in Inverness and Ross-shire,.
Coote, a prisoner of HMP Inverness, was convicted on charges of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting the woman at a trial earlier this year.
Aberdeen churchyard rapist jailed for seven years
A violent Aberdeen churchyard rapist has been jailed for seven years.
Sean Wyness, 34, appeared in the dock at the High Court in Aberdeen to face sentence after he dragged a woman into the grounds of St Clement’s Church and raped her during the early hours of May 15 2022.
He was found guilty of rape following a jury trial earlier this year.
The charge stated that Wyness seized the woman by the hair and pinned her against a wall.
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