Two men accused of being “connected to serious organised crime” have been remanded in relation to alleged drug offences in Broughty Ferry.
Flogerd Baqli and Ronald Licci, listed as being of no fixed abode, were fully committed for trial at Dundee Sheriff Court.
It is alleged that on January 30 this year, the pair were concerned in the production and supply of cannabis at a property in Victoria Road.
Court papers say the allegations Licci, 21, and Baqli, 25, face are aggravated by a connection to serious organised crime.
The two men were aided in the dock by an Albanian interpreter and made no plea.
They were further remanded and are expected to appear in court again at a later date.
Shed firm embezzler
A woman who embezzled thousands of pounds from a Perthshire shed-building firm has avoided a prison sentence after repaying the money. Alison Carlin pocketed £16,000 while working as an office manager at Errol-based Gillies and Mackay.
Fife bin fire
A 25-year-old man was caught on camera trying to set fire to a stack of newspapers on the doorstep to a Fife shop.
Video footage played in Dunfermline Sheriff Court showed Keiran Lorimer, wearing a bright orange hooded jacket, attempting to light the newspapers outside the store in Lochore’s Abbotsford Road on November 28 2020.
Fiscal depute Douglas Thomson said 42 unsold newspapers had been left on the doorstep for recycling when the shop was shut at 8pm.
Mr Thomson said Lorimer had been drinking alcohol that evening and stopped outside the paper shop to make various attempts to light the newspapers, which failed to catch.
The CCTV showed Lorimer then placing newspapers in a nearby bin.
Flames and smoke can be seen before the fire self-extinguishes after about two minutes.
Mr Thomson said: “The Crown accept there is no evidence of an attempt to damage the commercial premises.
“It’s little more than recklessness, albeit it could have caused great damage”.
Lorimer, of Capledrae Court in Ballingry, pled guilty to wilfully and repeatedly attempting to set the fire at the shop and in the bin.
The court heard that when police charged Lorimer the following month he stated the word “embarrassing”.
Sheriff Susan Duff adjourned sentencing until March 9 to obtain background reports and Lorimer’s bail was continued.
Former police abuse charges
Former Met policeman Jack Addis from Perthshire has appeared in court accused of a plot to share indecent images of children. Addis appeared by videolink at Westminster Magistrates Court with co-accused Jeremy Laxton. They are alleged to have exchanged abuse material between January 2018 and July 2021. Richard Watkinson, 49, who was a serving chief inspector would have faced charges too but was found dead last month.
Reformed since knuckleduster attack
A knuckleduster-wearing assailant who left his victim needing 50 facial stitches has been told to do 270 hours of unpaid work as punishment after a court turned he had turned round his life.
Russell Bryson, 32, pled guilty to carrying out the vicious assault in the Premier store in Ballingry’s Martin Crescent on August 3 2020.
Bryson’s victim was left with a 5cm scar to his left temple and a scar in the centre of his forehead, from the hairline to the left eyebrow after the flurry of punches to his head and body.
Bryson, of Killearn Street in Glasgow’s Possilpark, returned to Dunfermline Sheriff Court for sentencing.
Defence lawyer Alexander Flett said: “I have difficulty recalling a case I have dealt with where someone has made such progress since the offence”.
The solicitor explained that his client had addressed “underlying issues” and completed a residential rehabilitation programme followed by a period in supported accommodation.
He has returned to full employment and is “entirely abstinent from drink and drugs for a period in excess of a year”, as well as volunteering with charities which assisted him and mentoring people who have gone through the same recovery process.
Sheriff Susan Duff said the case would normally end in prison time.
She said, however: “I do consider you are a different person now and will do all you can to comply (with a community payback order).
“I do consider this is absolutely a direct alternative to a custodial sentence.”
The sheriff said: “I want you to feel the responsibility and pain of what you did.”
Bryson was also ordered to pay £900 in compensation.
Care home fined £100k after death
An 85-year-old advanced dementia patient died of hypothermia after leaving a Forfar care home through an unalarmed fire exit in the early hours of a winter morning. St Davids care home was fined £100,000 for failing to alarm the exit, leading to Georgina Norrie’s death on January 12 2017.
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