Police searching for a Fife man, who once beat a suspected informer until he was unrecognisable, caught him in Glenrothes with a knuckleduster.
HMP Perth inmate Christopher Kelly, 41, appeared by video link at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to admit carrying the illicit weapon.
On March 24, officers were sent to search for the 41-year-old, who had stopped engaging with supervisors after his early release from jail.
Kelly had been sentenced to a significant prison sentence in 2018 after beating a “grass” for an hour during a brutal interrogation.
Officers traced Kelly on Queen Margaret Drive in Glenrothes at around 11.50pm searched him.
They found a knuckleduster in his right trouser pocket.
His solicitor Graham Inch said Kelly had taken the weapon from his adult son.
Sheriff Alasdair Brown jailed Kelly for eight months.
Perthshire shotgun death
A man has appeared in court accused of killing an Italian businessman during a shooting incident at a country estate.
Franco Moroni, 61, is charged with the culpable homicide of Marco Cavola on March 25 2019.
Prosecutors claims he culpably and recklessly discharged a loaded shotgun close to the 42 year-old at Rossie Estate, Inchture.
The charge states Mr Cavola was then struck on the head resulting in severe injuries causing his death.
The case called at the High Court in Glasgow.
Alan Gravelle, defending, pled not guilty on Moroni’s behalf and asked for the hearing to occur in the man’s absence.
Moroni also lives in Italy.
Lord Matthews set a trial due to begin next February 15 in Dundee.
Moroni remains on bail meantime.
‘Immigration’ threat
A pensioner has appeared in court accused of threatening to “call immigration” on staff at a Highland Perthshire hotel.
John McCabe faces allegations he behaved in a disorderly manner at Fisher’s Hotel in Pitlochry on April 16.
The 67-year-old is accused of refusing or failing to leave the premises after being asked to do so by bar manager Aneta Wajda.
It is alleged McCabe acted in a racially aggravated manner which caused – or was intended to cause – alarm or distress to Ms Wajda and another person.
Prosecutors claim McCabe falsely accused them of robbing him of his money.
According to court papers, he is accused of calling Ms Wajda a “Polish b****” and stated that staff were “illegal immigrants.”
It is further alleged he requested to see their visas and passports, told them to “go back to their own country” and threatened to call immigration.
McCabe, of East Moulin Road, Pitlochry, denies both charges.
A trial was set for October 19, with an intermediate hearing on September 29.
He has been ordered in the interim to stay away from the Atholl Road hotel.
Rape-accused walks free
Dean Ross, 20, from Scotstoun, Glasgow, walked free from court after the rape case against him was dropped by the Crown. The High Court in Livingston had heard during the abandoned trial about phone messages allegedly sent by Ross to his mother and another woman admitting he had carried out a sex act on the sleeping complainer in Dundee.
Super-sweary tradesman
A tradesman threatened to “kick the brains” of a waste centre employee because he was being chased for an outstanding payment.
Jordan Tasker had attended at the Envirokleen site in Kirkcaldy to drop off waste related to his business but discovered he had forgotten to bring money.
After promising to return with the cash, he set off for another job in the Angus area but his vehicle broke down near Arbroath.
While stranded, he received repeated calls about the outstanding amount, leading him to “lose his temper” with employee David Lockhart.
Upon answering the phone, he threatened: “I’m going to kick your f***ing brains in, you f***ing ginger b***ard”.
Tasker, of Adamson Drive, Kirkcaldy, admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner on July 28, 2020.
A sheriff fined the 30-year-old £270.
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
