Get ready to spring into April with another batch of freshly baked true crime tales from courts around Tayside, Fife and beyond.
Cop chomped
A female police officer had her finger bitten while responding to a disturbance in Perth city centre.
PC Rebecca Miller was seized by raging Claire Boyd, who bent her fingers backwards before sinking her teeth into one of the digits.
Boyd, 38, admitted assaulting the officer at St John’s Street on February 25.
She further pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, likely to cause fear or alarm, by being aggressive towards police officers, shouting, swearing and refusing to desist.
Boyd, of St John Street, Perth, was due to be sentenced at Perth Sheriff Court this week.
However, the case was adjourned until April 13 for the competition of background reports.
Death crash driver jailed
80-year-old former businessman Adam Fernie was jailed for causing the death by dangerous driving of cyclist Iain Anderson in rural Fife. The truck driver said he had no explanation why he did not see his victim on the road in front of him before the collision.
Partner put in danger
A 35-year-old man put his partner in danger when he lobbed a wooden fence post through her living room window.
William McGregor was remanded in custody after an appearance via video link at Perth Sheriff Court.
McGregor, admitted threatening or abusive behaviour at his home in Ancaster Way, Muthill, on December 6, 2021.
He adopted an aggressive demeanour towards his partner, repeatedly demanded entry and kicked a door.
He then smashed a window with a plant pot.
The court heard that on March 17, he behaved in a similar way at the property.
He admitted culpably and recklessly throwing a wooden fence post through a window, whilst his partner was inside, to her danger and risk of injury.
Solicitor Mike Tavendale, defending, said his client had been remanded since the incident.
He asked Sheriff Francis Gill to release McGregor on bail, pointing out that his last criminal offence was in 2014.
“That’s a seven-and-a-half year break in offending,” he said.
Sheriff Gill told McGregor “in view of the nature of the charge” he would be remanded until sentencing on April 27.
Pole assault
A Perth woman has escaped punishment after she battered a child with a metal pole.
Teresa Watkinson, 61, struck the young girl several times during a row about a missing pet.
Perth Sheriff Court heard Watkinson, of Maxton Place, grabbed the pole – which was used to attach a paint roller – and began to repeatedly bang it against a door, while the child hid on the other side.
Fiscal depute Sarah Wilkinson said: “The pole penetrated the door and struck the girl on the body and arm.
“The injury sustained was several bruises.”
Watkinson pled guilty to a charge of assaulting the girl to her injury on October 30, 2020.
The court heard that she had stayed out of trouble since the incident.
Sheriff Francis Gill told her: “Whatever the circumstances, it is not acceptable to act in the way that you did.
“However, it is your first offence and you have accepted responsibility for it. You have been of good behaviour since. You will be admonished.”
NHS embezzlement
Former dental nurse Susan Veitch from Fife was placed on a curfew after admitting embezzling nearly £27,000 from the NHS. Her solicitor told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court she regularly helped herself from funds while working at the dental anaesthetic clinic at Dunfermline’s Queen Margaret Hospital, between April 2012 and January 2017.
Boxer rants
Ex-boxer Ryan Warden ranted and threatened neighbours after a fire in his house in Kinross, Perth Sheriff Court heard. The 31-year-old was fined and given community service.
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
