An Angus roofer admitted driving while disqualified after taking the wheel when his employee bumped the van in a supermarket car park.
Brandon Guthrie, 30, pled guilty to driving while banned and uninsured on the A92 near the Red Lion Caravan Park in Arbroath on September 29 last year.
Guthrie, of Finlarig Terrace in Dundee, was pulled over at around 9.30am, more than a month before his ban ended.
Solicitor Jim Laverty said: “He was involved in work in the Arbroath area.
“He and his employee had gone to Asda to buy some food.
“His employee was driving. He was involved in a slight bump within the car park.
“He was rather shaken up. Mr Guthrie decided he would drive the vehicle back to the job, which was not particularly far.”
Sheriff Derek Reekie pointed out Guthrie has four previous uninsured driving convictions.
He fined him £1,100, plus a £75 victim surcharge, and imposed six penalty points.
Pensioner’s fight
A Fife sheriff praised a 92-year-old Glenrothes woman who whacked a fleeing purse thief with her walking stick. Craig McClure entered the woman’s home uninvited and tried to steal her handbag before she snatched it back from him. He managed to make off with her purse, containing £200 and a bank card, despite her spirited resistance.
Noised up
Siam Naseem, 20, was given 100 hours of unpaid work after being caught with £400 of cannabis when police were drawn to his noisy car.
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, he pled guilty to possession in the town’s High Street on December 13 last year.
Prosecutor Jamie Hilland told the court police on foot were drawn to a vehicle “making excessive noise” in the high street at around 2.50am and noted a strong smell of cannabis when they spoke to driver Naseem.
The car was searched and herbal cannabis was found in the driver’s door pocket.
Defence lawyer Alistair Burleigh said his first offender client had spent about £400 on the herbal cannabis.
Fraudster lawyer
An ex-lawyer from Dundee who conned a late friend’s daughter out of almost £3,000 has been ordered to perform unpaid work. Ian Davidson was found guilty of defrauding the vulnerable client after being instructed to wind-up her father’s estate.
Cleared of child robbery
A Dundee man has been acquitted of robbing a 15-year-old girl at knifepoint at the city’s Ballindean Road on December 28 2021.
Kevin Duncan, 19, denied assaulting and robbing the teenager and stood trial at Forfar Sheriff Court.
He had faced a charge of brandishing a knife at the girl, making threatening comments towards her and robbing her of cash.
A jury found the charge not proven.
Jurors similarly found a charge of breaching special bail conditions not to approach or contact the girl not proven.
Duncan had been due to stand trial last week but failed to appear and has been on remand since a warrant was executed.
He admitted the offence and Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown admonished him.
Costly dash
A former Bear Scotland safety inspector was caught speeding on the notorious A9 south of Perth at more than 100mph. Perth Sheriff Court heard Artur Szyncel had to give up his job and had his licence revoked after a series of motoring offences.
Methil crime wave
A man who extorted one victim for £10 and robbed another of £20 has been put on curfew.
William McAllister, 20, appeared for sentencing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court by video link to Polmont young offenders institution, after earlier pleading guilty to offences in the Methil area.
On May 20 last year in Kirkland Walk he extorted a man to accompany him to a Co-op in Methilhaven Road and obtained £10 from him, before going to his home and demanding he pay for work not carried out and not requested.
He threatened him with violence, demanded his watch, threatened to take him away in a van and assault and rob him.
Two days later, in Wellesley Road, Buckhaven, McAllister assaulted and attempted to rob three men by threatening to stab them with a broken bottle and demanding money.
On the same date in nearby Sandwell Street, he culpably and recklessly used the threat of further violence to induce one of the three to remain still while placing his bleeding hand in his mouth, then intimating he had been infected with diseases.
McAllister assaulted and robbed another man of £20 by going to his home in possession of a hammer, demanding money, and threatening him with violence on September 4 last year.
On the same date, McAllister breached a bail condition not to enter Methil.
Defence lawyer Martin McGuire said his client has been on remand since September 12 last year, during which time his mental health has improved.
The sheriff sentenced him to a six-month curfew order and one year of offender supervision, with a conduct requirement to take any drug or alcohol counselling as directed by his supervising officer.
Second on murder charge
A second man has appeared in court accused of murdering Steven Hutton in Dundee on the Easter weekend. Scott Henderson appeared in private accused of murdering Mr Hutton, 43, in a flat on Charleston Road on Saturday March 30. Co-accused Barry Murray appeared on the same charge on Tuesday.
Bloody offensive
A Montrose support worker, who damaged a window by repeatedly striking it with her shoe, threw her own blood at police after she was arrested.
Kirsten Wilson, 43, of the town’s Railway Place, appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit vandalism at a flat on Ferry Street on February 10.The first offender also admitted assaulting three PCs at Montrose police station by “throwing blood from her body” at them.
Solicitor Nick Markowski said: “This is alcohol-fuelled” and Sheriff Mungo Bovey deferred sentencing until May 16 for reports.
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