A hospital worker stole cash from an 85-year-old patient in the Accident and Emergency department on Hogmanay.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard healthcare assistant Lucy Cruikshank was working the New Year shift at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee when she targeted the elderly woman.
The charge she admitted through her solicitor states she stole £150 cash during the course of her employment on December 31 last year.
Cruikshank, 28, from Dundee, has now been ordered to appear in person for sentencing after reports have been prepared.
Solicitor Kevin Hampton confirmed Cruikshank – who was not in court and has no previous convictions – wanted to plead guilty.
Two hurt in crash
Robbie Mill, 20, from Dundee will be sentenced later after being found guilty of driving dangerously, causing a high-speed crash in which two 14-year-old girls were thrown from his car on the A90 and badly hurt. Mill had been chased by police from Perth, through Bridge of Earn and onto the M90, before flipping his car near St Madoes.
Music star ready to return
A viral music star is getting ready to return to the studio after he was cleared over a violent rammy in Perth.
Brendan MacFarlane, whose videos have racked up more than 2.5 million views on YouTube, was due to stand trial accused of assault at a flat in the city’s Garry Place last month.
It was alleged MacFarlane, 26, behaved in a threatening or abusive manner, likely to cause fear or alarm, and threw a garden table at a window on April 25.
He was accused of repeatedly trying to strike a man with a fibreglass pole.
His pleas of not guilty to the assault and disorder charges were accepted by prosecutors when MacFarlane appeared from custody.
However, MacFarlane admitted he failed to comply with police when ordered to carry out a roadside drugs swab on Feus Road later that day.
His lawyer Susan Richmond stressed MacFarlane, of Weavers Well Crescent, “fully complied with police in every other way”.
She said: “He is a man who had a successful music career prior to his incarceration.
“There is potential to further that career if he is allowed to keep his liberty.
“He plans to return to the studio and it is hoped that he can make for himself a reasonable income.”
Sheriff Alison McKay told MacFarlane she had considered issuing a fine but took into account he had been remanded for nearly a month.
She imposed four penalty points on his licence.
MacFarlane shot to fame when an invitation to appear on Maury Povich’s talent show on US TV sparked a high-profile legal battle over parental control of his passport.
He was 11 when videos of him singing gospel and country standards went viral after being posted on YouTube.
Last June, he was cleared over a cut throat razor attack in Perth, having been jailed the previous December for possessing a stun gun.
Shamed councillor
Stirling Council councillor Ewan Dillon pled guilty to downloading indecent child material and resigned his office. The independent member for Dunblane and Bridge of Allan, had been due to stand trial but offered a guilty plea at Stirling Sheriff Court in July.
Child rapist
A child rapist from Stirlingshire who began preying on his first victim when he was still a teenager was jailed for seven years.
Malcolm Lamont, 34, from Denny, exposed two girls to pornography at a young age and went on to sexually abuse them, including raping one, over a seven-year period at an address in Motherwell.
Judge Fiona Tait told him at the High Court in Edinburgh a victim impact statement provided by one of the complainers spoke of ongoing trauma.
Lamont had denied a series of charges during an earlier trial at the High Court in Livingston, but was convicted of six offences.
He perpetrated indecent conduct towards a girl – then aged between six and eight – between March 2008 and May 2010 by showing her pornographic images on his mobile phone and a TV.
He carried out similar behaviour when the girl was aged 12 between 2014 and March the following year.
During the same period his offending escalated into touching the girl and raping her.
He was also found guilty of indecency towards a second girl after showing her pornography on his phone and a TV when she was aged between two and four between 2008 and 2010.
He perpetrated similar abusive behaviour towards the second girl when she was aged between seven and nine and went on to sexually assault the child by touching, rubbing and sexually assaulting her.
Defence counsel Iain Smith said Lamont continues to deny committing the offences.
Lamont was placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.
Heroin run
A drug dealer caught trafficking £7,500 of heroin on the A90 to Dundee was being exploited by her ex-boyfriend, Perth Sheriff Court heard. Terri Valentine, 32, was arrested by police following a tip-off. She admitted being concerned in the supply of drugs. Two other people in the car had not guilty pleas accepted.
Trial deserted
Court proceedings against a Perth woman accused of assaulting her 76-year-old mother by repeatedly striking her head with a telephone have been deserted.
Chloe Hamilton was due to stand trial at the city’s sheriff court on Tuesday, her 40th birthday, accused of an alleged assault on March 9 last year at Rosslyn Court, Perth.
But the case was deserted pro loco et tempore when it called, meaning proceedings have been effectively shelved but could be revived at a future date.
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