A group of men have appeared in court accused of scaling the Forth Rail Bridge.
Tomer Brown, Ryan McLoughlin, Peter Taylor and Ricky Yuen are alleged to have clambered to the top of the south cantilever of the world-famous structure on July 30 this year.
The men, who are aged between 22 and 25, are then said to have descended to the track level without regard to the safety of the public.
Prosecutors allege they had no safety equipment.
Three of the four accused appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court today.
Tomer, of London, Taylor, of Islington, and Yuen, of Dagenham, all pled not guilty during the brief hearing.
The case against McLoughlin, of Ruislip, was continued without plea until September 9 for his personal appearance.
A trial was set for November 23, with an intermediate hearing on November 10.
Car chaos in Coupar Angus
A Perthshire businessman has admitted driving through Coupar Angus while more than three times the drink-drive limit.
Marcin Bussa, who runs a furniture business with his wife, was spotted driving erratically through the town’s George Street.
The 44-year-old was arrested after failing a roadside breath test.
He appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted driving with 78 mics of alcohol in his system on November 20, 2021. The legal limit is 22 mics.
Fiscal depute Nicole Lewis said that, at about 2.40pm, Bussa’s Mercedes Benz was seen drifting onto the wrong side of the road and coming close to other cars.
“At times, he braked for no reason,” she said.
Bussa, who represented himself in court via an interpreter, said he had been drinking the night before.
“I went to work at noon,” he said. “I thought I would be okay to drive.”
Bussa, of King’s Road, Coupar Angus, added: “I will accept any punishment the court gives me.”
Sheriff David Hall fined him £600 and banned him from driving for a year.
Undertaker jailed
A Fife funeral director who sold fake plans to vulnerable customers as part of a fraudulent scheme has been jailed.
Barry Stevenson-Hamilton pled guilty to obtaining more than £130,000 by fraud when he appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court last month.
He admitted selling more than 40 phoney plans by fraudulently offering prepaid funeral care packages from branches of Stevenson Funeral Directors in Fife.
The 40-year-old, who was CEO of the company at the time, returned to the dock on Thursday for sentencing.
He was jailed for 33 months.
We’ll have the full story in tomorrow’s paper and on our website from 6am.
Facing jail for taser find
A 56-year-old woman is facing being sent to prison for a minimum of five years after voluntarily telling police officers she had a taser-style device in her home.
Suzanne Neave mentioned the weapon when she was talking to police about an unrelated matter where she was not involved in any criminal wrongdoing.
But she now faces a mandatory minimum five-year jail term because the device – a stun gun in the shape of a mobile phone – falls under a special category of “disguised” weapon.
Neave, Beacon Road, Montrose, admitted having a firearm disguised as another object in her former home at Provost Reids Road in Montrose on 6 August 2019.
She admitted the offence at Dundee Sheriff Court and sentence was deferred for the preparation of social work background reports. Bail was continued.
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here and you can join the conversation on our Facebook group.
