A Dunfermline man found with a bedroom full of cannabis plants told police it was cheaper to grow his own weed than buy it.
Experts estimate the plants cultivated by Mark Rudden could have been worth as much as £18,400 when fully grown.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard the 40-year-old was caught on June 5 2021 after police had visited his home – an upper flat in a block of four in a residential area – to investigate a claim he had been assaulted..
Fiscal depute Laura McManus said: “At that time police saw the cannabis plants.
“There were two growing areas in a rear bedroom, spanning the entirety of the room.
“Growing area one contained 31 small plants.
“Growing area two had 15 larger plants at a later stage of maturity.”
She said the plants were seized, along with other drug-growing paraphernalia, such as lights boxes.
Ms McManus said warehouse operator Rudden was candid when interviewed by officers at Dunfermline police station.
“He said he was cultivating it for his own use as it was cheaper than buying it.
“It would be ready in six weeks and would last him about four months.”
Experts said the plants were well tended and estimated each would produce around 56g of the drug, with a value of as much as £400.
Rudden, of Elliot Street, admitted producing cannabis and possessing it at his home address between March 10 and June 5 2021.
Sentence was deferred.
Murdered Forfar GP
A murderer will serve at least 20 years behind bars for beating and stabbing to death a 90-year-old retired doctor in his Forfar home. Alan Massie, 32, killed Dr Bill Yule after entering his Hillside Road home uninvited last December. He stabbed the widower twice in the neck, perforating his jugular vein, and once in the stomach.
Knifewoman ignored order
A Dundee woman who tried to rob her ex-partner at knifepoint has been jailed.
Laura King, who had been ordered by a court to stay away from her former boyfriend after a previous assault, told him: “This time I’ll kill you.”
The 36-year-old, a prisoner at Polmont, appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court and admitted assault and attempted robbery at her victim’s home in Craigowan Road on January 9.
Fiscal depute Lynn Mannion said: “The relationship ended in 2020, when the accused assaulted her then-partner and was subsequently imprisoned.
“The accused was also subject of a non-harassment order, not to approach or contact the complainer.”
She said the ex-partner was at home when King came to his door and he allowed her inside to use the phone.
He heard her ask her mother for money and then she appeared from the kitchen with a small knife.
Ms Mannion said: “She presented it at her ex-partner and started demanding money.”
King told him: “This time I’ll kill you.”
The man tried to wrestle the blade from his ex-girlfriend and suffered minor cuts to his neck and arms as he tried to defend himself.
Police were contacted by a neighbour and King was restrained on the ground.
Sheriff Alistair Carmichael told her: “There is no alternative to a custodial sentence” and jailed King for 10 months, to four months based on the time she had already spent on remand.
The sheriff imposed a two-year non-harassment order.
Homemade armour
A masked knifeman was caught lurking around Dundee Law dressed in a suit of “armour” made from a metal lid, books and a kitchen chopping board. Paranoid Robert Soutar was hunted down and “bitten” by police dog Rocky after he vanished into dark woodland in the middle of the night.
Twice tasered
A Tayport man high on crack cocaine was twice tasered by police during a disturbance in Dundee.
Police were called to Rankine Street at 11.25am on March 9 last year, following concerns about Christopher McDonald.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard NHS Scotland reported to police the 38-year-old was in the midst of a “mental health crisis” and officers found him holding a broken bottle.
He drew a thumb across his throat when he spotted police and told them: “No way, yous are getting it.”
Fiscal depute Lynn Mannion said an officer drew his taser when McDonald adopted a “fighting stance.
McDonald was shot on the shoulder and waist when he charged towards the officer with the bottle.
He continued advancing and was shot for a second time, on the upper leg and torso, partly paralysing him
The officer kicked the bottle out of McDonald’s hand and then threw himself on top of him to stop him from getting up.
McDonald, of Castle Street, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and assaulting the officer by charging at him with the bottle.
He further pled guilty to a charge of threatening or abusive behaviour at Carseview Hospital on October 16 last year.
His lawyer said that McDonald had taken crack cocaine the night before the incident in Rankine Street.
“He had been trying to get an appointment for his mental health.
“The crack cocaine made him angry and he acted in this regrettable way.”
Sheriff Alistair Carmichael deferred sentence for reports until July 11.
Payback order
A Dundee drug dealer who made nearly £325,000 from his role in the illicit trade thanked a sheriff after being ordered to pay back just under £2,000. Dale Pearson was jailed for five years in 2019 after he was caught with tens of thousands of pounds worth of cocaine stashed in a board game.
Drink-drive chef
A drink-driving chef’s car caught fire after he crashed it in Monifieth.
Adam Craig, 26, of Howard Street in Arbroath, admitted driving dangerously and with excess alcohol (93mics/ 22) on May 29 this year on the A930.
He was spotted overtaking cars at high speed and a witness heard from their home as he collided with bollards and then another car, before catching fire.
Solicitor Billy Rennie said: “He’s not troubled the court before. He’s very anxious, very nervous.
“He’d been in Dundee. Clearly at some point the decision was made to drive home.
“He accepts fully the nature of the driving does amount to dangerous driving and knows the consequences of that.
“It seems unlikely this behaviour will be repeated.”
At Forfar Sheriff Court, Sheriff Krista Johnston banned Craig for 20 months and he must resit the extended test.
This will drop to 15 months if he completes the drink driver rehabilitation scheme.
She said: “This was clearly an appalling decision of yours.
“What followed in terms of the dangerous driving was an example of how someone in that drunken condition turns a vehicle into a weapon.
“You’re very lucky that you weren’t more badly injured or anyone else.”
Craig was also fined £600, plus a £40 victim surcharge.
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