A Montrose man who failed to keep on top of unpaid work imposed after he broke his girlfriend’s jaw has been given another chance.
Jay Taylor, 22, had only managed 61 of the ordered 220 hours for a vicious domestically-aggravated assault.
In June 2021, he was also ordered to pay £2,000 to his victim, who had a pair of metal plates and eight screws fitted in her jaw after she was punched.
His order was revoked in December and a new order, of 200 hours within the next year, was imposed at Forfar Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Krista Johnston told him: “Let me be clear, you have no choice about doing this order now.”
Troon Avenue murder trial begins
Dundee app designer Andrew Innes has admitted killing a young woman and her daughter and burying their bodies in concrete under the kitchen floor at 21 Troon Avenue, Dundee.
Innes, 52, stabbed and bludgeoned to death Bennylyn Burke, 25 and asphyxiated her two-year-old daughter Jellica.
He denies murdering them, claiming he was of diminished responsibility at the time, February 20 2021 and March 5 2021.
He also denies rape, sexual assault and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
On the first day of his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, jurors heard evidence from an agreed minute, as well as from Bennylyn’s husband and police involved in the case, who said he confessed his crime.
McDonald’s drink-drive
A Fife drink-driver crashed his van on the way to find a McDonald’s at 2am.
John Briggs, 33, admitted driving while more than twice the legal limit (167/ 67mgs) in Dunfermline’s Masterton Road on March 13 last year.
Procurator fiscal depute Jill Currie told the city’s sheriff court a resident in the street heard a “loud bang” at around 2am and saw a van “crashed in to a BT phone box” and a male in dark clothing got out of the car.
Police found Briggs nearby, “slurring his words and struggling on his feet”.
Defence lawyer Alan Davie said Briggs was drinking to get over a relationship split.
“He had gone to the pub in Inverkeithing that night and drunk a quantity of alcohol before returning to the flat.
“After a period he made the decision to get food and nowhere was open in Inverkeithing and he made the foolish decision to get in the van and find a McDonald’s open.
“The journey resulted in a crash into the BT box”.
Mr Davie said Briggs, of Quality Street in Dysart but formerly of Inverkeithing, suffered a relatively minor head injury.
Sheriff Susan Duff banned Briggs from driving for one year and fined him £200.
Parking chase
A bullying driver who “erupted” after getting a parking ticket abused a traffic warden in a bizarre chase through Dundee city centre. Grant Grubb’s parking punishment has escalated from a £30 fixed-penalty notice to an immediate driving ban and potential jail sentence after terrorising Dundee City Council employee Richie Knox last January.
Assaulted Good Samaritan
When a concerned Arbroath neighbour attended a house where a woman was screaming, her boyfriend put him in a headlock and elbowed him.
The man had raced from his workshop to the property in Warddykes Road on July 13 2021 when he heard Kieran Read shouting abuse and his partner screaming.
Read, 22, lunged towards him and placed him in a headlock, before striking him on the head with his elbow.
After being apprehended, Read said: “Why am I being arrested? He came into my house.”
Read was sentenced at Forfar Sheriff Court, having admitted assaulting the man and acting abusively towards his partner, as well as breaching bail conditions by approaching her.
Solicitor Nick Markowski said: “There was never any assault on his partner.”
Read, of Sidney Street, was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work and a year-long non-harassment order protecting his partner
Sheriff Krista Johnston said: “For the avoidance of doubt, that’s an alternative to custody.”
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