Your essential midweek court round-up.
Football assault
A Dundee football fan has admitted assaulting a female police officer at McDiarmid Park.
Nathan Ford attacked the constable on the day of St Johnstone’s clash with Dundee United last summer.
He was later caught with cocaine at Ninewells Hospital.
Ford appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted assaulting officer Lindsay Brown by pushing her on the body on August 22.
The 19-year-old, of Isla Street, further pled guilty to possession of a class A substance.
Sheriff Richard McFarlane deferred sentence for background reports.
“The nature of the charges concerns me,” he said. “Assaulting a female police officer and a drugs offence is a very unattractive proposition.”
The sheriff said: “Being involved in class A drugs makes me worry about your lifestyle and the direction your life is taking.”
Continuing the case until February 23, he told Ford: “No further offending.”
Kinder Egg
Stacey Phinn from Dundee has been remanded in custody after admitting drugs and assault offences. The 35-year-old was caught in the city with £4,000 of heroin and cocaine in her underwear and, internally, in a Kinder Egg. She also admitted battering her brother with a crowbar in a separate incident.
Bail breacher
A Dunfermline man told his partner he had been “jumped” while buying a car, before going on the rampage in their home.
Mark West told the woman she had “opened a can of worms” after she phoned his “attacker”.
The 35-year-old began shouting and swearing and was wrestled onto a bed by the woman.
He got up and was punching doors and claiming he was going to “stab folk”.
He refused to leave and police were called.
Later in the year, West met the woman while Christmas shopping and went back to her home, despite a bail order preventing him from doing so.
His solicitor said West had issues with alcohol and the relationship has ended.
West, of Wedderburn Crescent, Dunfermline, admitted acting in a threatening and abusive manner at an address in the town on April 11 last year.
He further admitted breaching bail on December 19 by being in the company of the woman.
At Dunfermline Sheriff Court, he was ordered to carry out 157 hours of unpaid work and placed on a supervision order for two years.
He was also fined £650 and banned from seeing the woman for three years.
Dodgy dealings
The boss of Perthshire property firm Gleneagles Homes admitted falsifying documents to gain more than £40,000 from HMRC. Robert MacGregor – who now runs a company that helps people deal with insolvency issues – said he had a “particularly poor” grasp of finances during his stint at the head of the now-defunct company.
Prisoner dies
A convicted murderer has died at HMP Perth, the Scottish Prison Service confirmed.
Killer Francis Docherty was caged 35 years ago for a grisly murder in Glasgow.
The 57-year-old was announced as dead by bosses at the Edinburgh Road prison on Tuesday.
A spokesperson said: “Francis Docherty, a prisoner from HMP Perth has died on 23 January 2022.
“He was sentenced at Glasgow High Court in 1987.
“Police Scotland have been advised and the matter reported to the Procurator Fiscal.
“A Fatal Accident Inquiry will be held in due course.”
In 2013, Docherty had a further 14 months added to his sentence after absconding from HMP Castle Huntly in Perthshire.
Death threat
A rape suspect called his accuser from prison, threatening to have her shot if she did not get the charges dropped. John Scott from Dundee admitted having an illicit phone in Perth Prison from which he made the threats. The rape charge was not proven after a three-day trial in Stirling.
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
