A sex abuse victim recalled in court being attacked at a time Scotland were playing in the World Cup 40 years earlier.
The then-young boy suffered at the hands of pervert Peter McCormick, who went on to prey on three other victims.
Regarding the first, prosecutor BJ Gill KC told the High Court in Glasgow: “He was 12 at the time, McCormick was 20.
“He remembers it as a time Scotland were in the World Cup and Ally MacLeod was manager – that would have been the tournament in 1978.”
The boy was molested by McCormick at a house in Stirling, having been plied with drink.
The next youngster suffered a similar ordeal later that year, before a third was attacked in 1979.
McCormick struck again in the mid-90s, repeatedly abusing this boy at another property in Stirling, in a tent and quiet “rural” areas.
Decades later one victim went to police and all four bravely relived their ordeals.
McCormick, now of Dunfermline, pled guilty to four charges of lewd and libidinous behaviour and sentencing was deferred until next month.
He had been on bail but Judge Douglas Brown told him: “Given the serious nature of the offences, you will be remanded in custody.”
Four Taser hits
Police needed four Taser shots and pepper spray to stop a knifeman wielding a blade in each hand as he swung a machete at an officer in Fife. The PC managed to dodge Joroslaw Szmajda’s machete attack in Methil on Hogmanay 2022 but it took multiple Taser hits to bring down the raging attacker.
Drive-by shooting
A 20-year-old man who carried out a “drive-by shooting” at a nightclub has been admonished at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Logan Cumming shot at street signs near the Tay Bridge before turning his attention to the clubs on the city’s Session Street.
The court was told previously Cumming, of Peebles Drive, bought an imitation firearm and plastic bullets from a shop at 8.30pm on January 20 last year.
He had been a passenger in a Vauxhall Corsa with two friends and took turns firing the weapon at “street furniture” in the Tay Bridge area.
Fiscal depute Larissa Milligan told the court: “At about 12.15am, the vehicle was passing the nightclub and the accused opened the window and fired the gun.”
Police stopped the vehicle and asked the occupants if they had the firearm but they all denied any knowledge of the weapon’s existence.
Other units were requested to carry out a search and the three men were detained under firearms legislation.
The weapon and ammunition were found under the driver’s seat and first offender Cumming, who admitted culpable and reckless conduct in court, confessed to being the owner.
Solicitor Theo Finlay, defending, said: “This is the first time he’s come to the attention of the authorities, something which he intended to be a light-hearted joke just for a bit of fun but he quickly realised it was a very, very bad mistake.
Sheriff John Rafferty admonished Cumming after being told he had been of good behaviour during a period of deferred sentence.
Next door neighbours
Two men have admitted operating cannabis farms producing drugs potentially worth more than £500,000 in neighbouring vacant shops in Arbroath. Albanians Demirel Buruti, 24, and Petrit Shtyme, 25, appeared in the dock separately last week to admit producing cannabis in the adjoining properties from 150-154 High Street.
Phone forgetfulness
A death crash driver will spend extra time behind bars after prison guards discovered a mobile phone in his Perth Prison cell.
Fisherman Andrew Montgomery, 36, was jailed in 2021 for causing a fatal smash on the Isle of Skye.
He was high on cocaine and alcohol when he sped along the wrong side of the road, and ploughed into a van driven by Ewen McKay, 54, and his teenage son.
Montgomery was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after admitting causing Mr McKay’s death by dangerous driving.
He returned to the dock at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted having an unauthorised phone in his cell at the city jail on August 15 last year.
Solicitor Imran Hussain, defending, said the deadline to hand back prison-issued mobiles – in exchange for in-cell landlines – was 9pm the night before.
“His cell was searched at 9am that morning, so just 12 hours later.
“Mr Montgomery was not aware that he had to return his phone that night.”
When asked by Sheriff Alison McKay if no-one had told him about the deadline, Mr Hussain said: “He was told some time prior to this, but he simply took his eye off the ball.
“For some weeks after the deadline, prisoners were being reminded to hand back their phones, he tells me.”
Mr Hussain, who urged the court to impose a concurrent sentence, said his client was suffering from PTSD at the time.
Montgomery, who is up for parole in February, had his sentence extended by a further 65 days.
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