Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Date set for hearing to recover greedy granny’s ill-gotten gains
A judge has set a date for a court hearing to recover the ill-gotten gains of a crooked north-east nan who embezzled over £1.5 million from her Aberdeen employers.
Coleen Muirhead, 56, was jailed for three years and three months in September last year after swindling £ 1,524,192.37 from Panda Rosa Metals in Canal Road.
Between June 2015 and October 2021, she indulged in expensive holidays and bought cars and caravans.
Macduff dad caught with credit card knife ‘grounded’ by family
A Macduff dad who was caught carrying a knife disguised as a credit card in an Aberdeen shop was “grounded” by his family, a sheriff has been told.
Kevin Silbergh was found in possession of the blade that folded to look like a credit card in the city centre branch of Marks and Spencer.
The 51-year-old ex-army man appeared in court from custody while family members watched on worriedly from the public gallery at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Aberdeen rapist caught with £1.5 million cocaine jailed for 3 years
An Aberdeen rapist who was caught with £1.5m of cocaine near Dundee has been jailed for a further three years.
Brutal convicted sex offender Tom Farquhar, 28, was stopped in an Audi S3 on the A90 on September 1 last year.
Police had been tipped off that Class A drugs were being transported and uncovered the haul found in taped packages inside a supermarket bag for life.
Man in court after alleged Aberdeen disturbance involving bladed weapon
A man has appeared in court charged in connection with a disturbance on an Aberdeen street that allegedly involved a bladed weapon over the weekend.
Police were called to Smithfield Gardens, near Hilton, around 2pm on Saturday after receiving reports of a man behaving in an anti-social manner.
Multiple police vehicles could be seen in the area with officers urging people nearby to stay away from the scene.
Serial thief jailed over thefts from Aberdeen city centre staff rooms
A compulsive stealer who stole over £2,500 of cash and belongings from employees at more than half a dozen Aberdeen city centre businesses has finally lost his freedom.
Serial thief Colin Mosdell targeted staff areas at His Majesty’s Theatre, Jam Jar, Marischal Square, King Street Dental Practice, the Music Hall, Foodstory, Bargain Buys, and The Foundry.
The 38-year-old, who in the past spurned opportunities to attend drug rehab, helped himself to thousands of pounds worth of electronics and cash.
He also stole workers’ bank cards and used them to fraudulently buy goods at newsagents.
Vicious Alness thug caged for slashing man’s face during drunken knife fight
An enraged Alness man who left another person scarred for life after an alcohol-fuelled knife fight was jailed today for the frenzied attack.
Shaun McLeod sliced Gavin Gordon across the face with a blade as the pair brawled at the hoodlum’s home on Riverside Road, Alness, on March 24 this year.
McLeod, 31, pled guilty to a charge of assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement during a previous hearing at Inverness Sheriff Court.
Security guard avoids jail after he was caught selling £21,000 of stolen items on eBay
A light-fingered security guard caught selling more than £21,000 of stolen items on eBay has avoided a prison sentence.
Yassine Mbarki, 50, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted stealing and listing thousands of pounds worth of equipment for sale that he had taken from EIS Waste Services.
Mbarki – who was employed by a third-party security company and carried out the scam for almost a year and a half – used his eBay account to sell computer software, machinery and offshore electrical equipment.
The total sum of the items he had listed for sale online was £21,599.
Oil boss who flipped car claims he wasn’t drinking – he just forgot to wear his glasses
An oil boss who crashed his car and then refused to be breathalysed has denied drinking and insists the crash happened because he wasn’t wearing his glasses.
Abdullahi Raheem was behind the wheel when his vehicle collided with parked cars and overturned in Aberdeen’s Rosemount Viaduct.
The 49-year-old oil and gas project manager maintains the early-morning crash had been caused by “tiredness” and due to him forgetting to wear his glasses rather than alcohol consumption.
Bloodhound-like cops catch drug-driver after smelling cannabis as he drove by
A drug-driver was caught after police officers with a bloodhound-like sense of smell caught the whiff of cannabis from their moving vehicle.
Police were on mobile patrol on Evan Street in Stonehaven when the odour of the Class B caught their attention.
Believing the pong was coming from another vehicle, they followed and stopped it, finding Mark Gibb as the driver.
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Teen on knife and assault charges after armed police incident freed on bail
A man accused of assault and having a knife after armed police swooped near the Lemon Tree has been freed on bail.
Armed officers swarmed around the popular Aberdeen venue during the dramatic incident on Friday August 16.
While not related to the Lemon Tree itself, the incident in the nearby Shoe Lane and Queen Street area caused a planned concert to be cancelled.
Caithness businessman found guilty of rapes at High Court in Inverness
A Caithness businessman is behind bars after being found guilty of raping two women.
Charles Sutherland was also convicted of having unlawful sex with a girl under 16 as well as a single count of indecent assault.
Sutherland, 36, who owns Sandside House, had denied all the charges at the High Court in Inverness.
Victim’s relief as Alness woman found guilty of historic child abuse
An Alness woman has been found guilty of assaults against three children in the 1980s and 90s.
Elizabeth Bell had denied all the incidents – which took place between January 1982 and December 1995 – but was convicted following a trial at Tain Sheriff Court.
Bell, 62, appeared for sentencing this week and avoided a custodial sentence but was placed on a community payback order requiring her to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.
Kintore cannabis farmer grew drugs for terminally ill family members
A cannabis “specialist” told police he set up a cultivation at his father’s business to help family members with terminal illnesses.
Police uncovered the illegal drug farm after raiding the premises at Forestmuir Sawmill, near Forfar.
Alexander Robertson, from Kintore, pled guilty to producing the Class B drug and told police it was for personal use and medicinal purposes and he took no payment.
Man in dock after car crashes into building in Peterhead
A man has appeared in court after a car crashed into a Peterhead building.
Shocked residents discovered the blue Volvo with significant damage on St Andrews Street in the Aberdeenshire town during the early evening on Sunday.
In video footage posted on a community Facebook page, substantial damage can be seen to the front of the stricken vehicle.
The door of a property was also badly damaged having seemingly been hit by the car.
Facebook scammer drove from England to Aberdeen to rip off sellers
A cunning and conniving Facebook Marketplace scammer drove from England to rip-off Aberdeen sellers.
Daniel McDonagh was found guilty of forming a fraudulent scheme following a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
The 25-year-old con man set up a fake Facebook account, then showed sellers a fake bank payment when he turned up to collect items – getting away with goods worth £2,350.
Aberdeen gas engineer jailed over £300,000 cannabis haul
An Aberdeen gas engineer held after police seized more than £300,000 of cannabis has been jailed for three years and two months.
Adrian Greedy was caught after initially trying to flee from detectives in Great Northern Road in the Woodside area of Aberdeen on May 7 2022.
The 36-year-old was today sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow.
He had earlier admitted to a charge of being concerned in the supply of the class B drug.
Man in dock on murder charge after Rosehill Court slashing victim dies
A man has appeared in court charged with murder after the victim of a horrifying slashing in an Aberdeen high-rise died overnight.
Police rushed to Rosehill Court late on Tuesday afternoon after Jacek Dembinski, 44, was discovered outside bleeding heavily from a significant slash wound.
It is understood officers followed a trail of blood into the block and arrested a male.
Oil worker who crashed into sign refused to be breathalysed and gave police middle finger
An oil worker who turned to alcohol when his marriage broke down gave police the middle finger as he refused to take a drink-driving test after crashing his car.
Richard Polignano appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted losing control of his Volkswagen in the west end of Aberdeen last month, causing the car to collide with a road sign.
The belligerent 35-year-old dad was twice requested to provide a breath sample but refused.
Domestic abuser who proposed to girlfriend while still living with wife warned he could face jail
A domestic abuser who proposed to his partner while still living with his wife in Wick has been warned he could face jail over the abuse and assault of one of the women.
George Harper asked his new girlfriend to marry him just two weeks after they first met – and despite him still sharing a home with his spouse.
But while splitting his time between the two women, Harper abused and assaulted his supposed fiancee in Inverness – leaving her in need of hospital treatment.
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Elgin man snared by police decoy spared jail
A man who was snared by a police officer posing as a 14-year-old girl online has been spared jail.
Edward Russell, 27, demanded indecent photos and videos of the “girl” and others he met in a chat room for teenagers.
He was also found to be in possession of two indecent images – one showing a young teenager in an “erotic” pose and another featuring the sexual abuse of boy aged between three and five.
Drunk who assaulted dad, 84, now on pocket money to curb drinking
An alcoholic who battered his 84-year-old dad with a walking stick is being given “pocket money” by social workers in a bid to stop his drinking.
Adrian Pearson assaulted his elderly father at an address on George Street, kicking him and using a walking stick as a weapon to hit him.
The 60-year-old previously pled guilty to an assault charge over the matter, as well as breaching the terms of an antisocial behaviour order.
Sentence had been deferred for Pearson to prove he could be of good behaviour.
Court considers life-long restriction order for Aberdeen gunpoint rapist
The sentencing of a dangerous sex offender who abducted and raped a man at gunpoint has been delayed as the court considers an order of life-long restriction.
Nathan Sim was found guilty of the sustained and brutal attack following a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen at the start of this month.
The 20-year-old was convicted of donning a black balaclava and pulling an imitation handgun on his 18-year-old victim, who believed he was being given a place to sleep after he missed his bus home.
Woman pushed child in buggy along A96 while drunk and then attacked mum
A Moray woman has been handed community service after admitting drunkenly staggering with a toddler in a pushchair along the edge of the A96.
Kira Stephen, 25, was also convicted of assaulting her mother twice and slapping a police officer while resisting arrest.
Stephen, whose address was listed as no fixed abode, appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court for sentencing.
Sheriff’s warning to man guilty of brutal one-punch assault
A man who committed a one punch-assault that knocked his victim out has been told: “This is how people die.”
Joshua Jack hit the man during an altercation over money, Inverness Sheriff Court heard.
His victim fell to the ground unconscious and was taken to hospital with bruising and a cut to his nose.
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