Two men have admitted a Dundee assault and robbery.
HMP Perth inmates Callum Ogilvie and Eric Stewart assaulted John Farquhar on Reform Street on August 26.
Both 38-year-old Ogilvie and 42-year-old Stewart threatened Mr Farquhar and repeatedly blocked his path, preventing him from leaving.
Ogilvie then seized him by the throat and the body before robbing him of a mobile phone.
Sheriff George Way noted Stewart had a criminal record “the size of a telephone directory”.
Ogilvie also pled guilty to possessing heroin at the time.
Both men are due for sentencing on May 17.
Dundee rape
Luke Clarkson, 27, was jailed for more than four years and placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely for a rape in Dundee.
The former McDonalds worker and martial arts expert from Elgin only stopped his brutal attack when his victim grabbed him by the throat.
‘I’m ashamed of myself’
A 52-year-old Dunfermline man approached two 13-year-old girls and pretended to take photographs of them on his mobile phone, before following them.
Barry Purches, of the town’s Petrel Way, pled guilty to a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm.
The incident happened in Dunfermline’s Dunlin Drive in September 2020.
Sheriff William Gilchrist said: “Mr Purches, you have an extensive record.
“This was obviously an offence of slightly different and concerning character.”
The sheriff deferred sentencing until June 8 for the production of background reports and Purches was released on bail.
As he left the dock, Purches said: “I’m ashamed of myself.”
Dangerous driver banned
Dangerous driver Brandon Williams, who ploughed into a footbridge while being pursued by police in Dundee, was temporarily paralysed in another road accident just three months later.
The 21-year-old has now been banned from the road after his crash at the end of the chase in 2020.
Onion bag excuse full of holes
A Fife woman convicted of dealing heroin after her DNA was found on the knot of a food bag containing the drug has been jailed.
Gillian Hay had claimed during her trial someone else put the bag inside a jacket in her home without her knowledge.
She said her DNA could have been on it because she regularly used food bags for items such as onions.
The 39-year-old, of New Flockhouse in Lochore, also claimed to not know anything about a mobile phone in her home, which was found to have received text messages to someone called “Gill” alluding to potential drug deals.
Sheriff Alison Michie found Hay guilty of possessing heroin and class C etizolam tablets – also known as street Valium – with intent to supply in February 2019.
She sentenced her to five months in prison.
During the trial, senior procurator fiscal depute Azrah Yousaf asked Hay why her DNA was found on the knot of a bag containing 62g of heroin inside a woman’s jacket in a wardrobe.
Hay replied: “They are food bags and I use them all the time.
“Food bags are on a roll and I pull them out in loads and so my DNA touches every bag.
“I use the bags for onions, all sorts of things.”
Hay’s friend, Adam Bett, who was jailed in March for breaking through a shop roof to steal £400 to fund a drug habit, gave evidence in her defence that he brought the drugs into her home and hid them in jackets without her knowledge.
The 37-year-old also said he took a mobile phone to Hay’s home, which he used to contact people about drugs but could not explain who “Gill” was, when questioned.
Banger bother
Joe Arnott, who lit a firework in tribute to his late brother and accidentally launched it into his mum’s kitchen in Dunfermline, narrowly avoided a prison sentence.
Digging himself deeper into trouble
Martin Low, 40, admitted waving a shovel while ranting in Dundee.
Low appeared by video link at Dundee Sheriff Court to admit five charges.
The HMP Perth inmate acted in a manner “likely to cause fear or alarm” at Lansdowne Square on January 14 last year.
He acted aggressively, shouted, swore and brandished a shovel.
He broke a window at a property in the street and also admitted possessing offensive weapons – scissors and the shovel.
After first appearing in court in connection with the rampage, Low was released on bail with special conditions not to return to the street until proceedings were over.
However, he breached the order by returning the following month.
Sheriff George Way deferred sentencing until May 17.
Death inquiry begins
The public inquiry into the death in police custody of Sheku Bayoh in 2015 has begun.
The probe into the Kirkcaldy father’s death began with tributes from his family as his mother, Aminata Bayoh, who flew in from Sierra Leone for the inquiry, watched on.
Commandos jailed
Two Royal Marine Commandos caught ferrying drugs in Ministry of Defence vehicles have been jailed for a total of nine years.
Grant Broadfoot, 29, and Stuart Bryant, 31, were snared during a £300,000 cannabis bust in Glasgow’s Mount Vernon on June 3 2020.
Detectives also went on to find Broadfoot had used his position as an ammunitions storeman at HM Naval Base in Faslane to offer the sale of live rounds to others.
The discovery was made during the probe into the once top secret Encrochat encrypted phone network used by criminals.
Broadfoot, of the city’s Tollcross, was sentenced to five years and three months after he pled guilty to a charge of being involved in serious organised crime.
Bryant, of Galston, Ayrshire was locked up for three years and nine months after he admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
Broadfoot’s 62 year-old father Ian was also sentenced.
He had pled guilty to producing and being concerned in the supply of cannabis, as well as a charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
He was ordered to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work as part of a 27-month community payback order.
Grant Broadfoot will also be subject to a three-year Serious Crime Prevention Order when he is freed from prison.
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
