A Fife man has been warned by a sheriff he must “rein in” his temper to avoid being locked up after he threatened a shop worker.
Anthony Morgan, 47, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court and admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards the staff member at a Co-op store in Rosyth’s Castlandhill Road.
The court heard that Morgan, of Inverkeithing’s Manse Road, had been banned from entering the shop due to previous incidents.
Procurator fiscal depute Mat Piskorz said Morgan entered the shop on April 21 last year and was told to leave.
He did so, then saw a staff member through a shop window waving at him to walk away.
A short time later, Morgan returned and sought out the same employee and told him to ‘run away, p****, hide, who do you think you are?’
The fiscal depute said: “He was also heard shouting: ‘You f***ing p****, come here, you think you are the big man?'”
The court heard that a staff member pressed the emergency panic button and police attended a short time later.
After officers viewed CCTV, Morgan was traced and charged.
Defence lawyer Alexander Flett said Morgan had reacted to the gesture made by the employee in the store.
The solicitor said his client had been banned from the shop some years before but had since been in the store without any difficulties.
Sheriff Peter Anderson told Morgan: “This kind of conduct can not go on because, if you go on being a nuisance, sooner or later a sheriff is going to have to lock you up.
“You have got to cut it out. Rein in your temper. You lost your temper, it’s very foolish.
“Just walk away. You are not losing status or reputation.”
Sheriff Anderson fined Morgan £380.
Child rapist locked up again
A convicted child rapist was caught by paedophile hunters after he sent a video of himself having sex to what he thought was a 12-year-old girl.
Dean McKinney, who was jailed in 2012 for raping a teenager, pestered the “child” for nude pictures.
The 30-year-old, who served two-and-half-years of a five year sentence, returned to the dock and admitted sending gross and indecent messages to an account in the name of Amber via WhatsApp last August.
Amber, who was presented online as a 12-year-old girl, was actually operated by a self-appointed paedophile hunter Angela McAllister.
McKinney, 30, looked surprised after he was remanded in custody until sentencing later this year.
Drink-drive nurse
A Dundee nurse was caught four times the drink-drive limit on a busy Angus dual carriageway.
Kevin Walker, 40, was found behind the wheel of his silver Toyota Verso in June last year on the Muirdrum flyover, close to Carnoustie.
He provided a blood sample of 212mcgs/100ml of blood. The limit is 50mcgs.
Walker, a staff nurse, was banned from driving for 20 months at Forfar Sheriff Court.
Solicitor Sarah Campbell, in mitigation for Walker, said: “He is 41, and is employed full time as a staff nurse.
“He has notified the Nursing and Midwifery Council of his conviction.
“He is unsure if there will be any further investigation, but he is hopeful he can maintain his position.
“He is in a position to pay a fine.
“He is engaged with two (alcohol help) agencies and will engage with any disposal passed down by the court.”
Walker, of Barnes Avenue, Dundee, is still registered as a nurse according to the NMC website.
Disqualifying Walker for 20 months from holding a licence, Sheriff Derek Reekie said: “He has done the right thing (in engaging with agencies) and I would not wish to discourage him from this, but there could be serious further consequences for him.
“He did submit his guilty plea at the first opportunity.
“I asked for reports and acknowledge you have a long term issue with alcohol.
“This is the first time you have ever appeared in court.
“You are fortunate no-one else was involved.
“I commend you in taking the correct steps.
“A fine may be problematic if you lose your job.
“You would have been disqualified for 30 months (2.5 years) but I will reduce this to 20 months for the early plea.
“I will impose, as an alternative to custody, 80 hours of unpaid work, reduced from 120 hours again because of your early plea.
“This really could have had very serious consequences if others had been involved.”
Neighbour abused care staff
A neighbour-from-hell has been found guilty of tormenting a pensioner and care home staff during a two-month campaign of offensive behaviour.
Andrew McKiddie hurled stones at one woman’s window as she put her make-up on and tipped a full wheelie bin out into her garden.
McKiddie – who once refused to do community payback because he didn’t want to spend time with other criminals – was found guilty of five charges of threatening or abusive behaviour.
Long-suffering neighbour Jennifer Good, 68, told Perth Sheriff Court that she had installed CCTV cameras because of a number of previous incidents.
She said: “I was in my bedroom putting on my make-up. Mr McKiddie went by and started shouting abuse and throwing stones at my window.”
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