A Dundee teen appeared in the dock the day after his 18th birthday to be fined for stealing sweets from a mobile coffee shop.
Kaydon McColl previously admitted raiding the Dundee Bean Machine mobile coffee shop parked in the city’s Myrtlehall Gardens on December 1 last year.
He stole confectionary and a card machine and forced open a till from which he took cash.
The business posted on Facebook the following day that they would be attending Perth Farmer’s Market, adding: “We are low on change today.
“It’s a bit of a long story but the long and short is that our van was broken into by the Mars Bar thief.”
While acting with another person, McColl targeted two other insecure vehicles in Dundee that evening.
They stole sunglasses from vehicles parked in Carradale Drive and Ballumbie Gardens.
At Dundee Sheriff Court, McColl, of Pitkerro Road, Dundee, was fined £180 plus a £10 victim surcharge.
Ditched vodka after school crash
Drunk driver Brain Fulton was caught ditching a bottle of vodka after smashing into a barrier outside a Fife school minutes after closing time. The 62-year-old has been warned he could be jailed the drunken crash at Castlehill Primary in Cupar.
Henry vacuum and a single shoe
A car thief was caught making off with a bizarre haul of seemingly random items including a Henry vacuum cleaner, a bottle of Prosecco and a single trainer.
Meghan Beckers, 36, of Stronsay Court, Perth, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted driving a Vauxhall Astra through the city’s Gowans Terrace while unfit through drink or drugs on January 1, stealing the car on the same date from a house on nearby Bute Drive and making off with a puffer jacket, a bottle of Prosecco, a packet of cigarettes, a Henry vacuum cleaner, two Jasper Conrad handbags and one Nike Air Max trainer.
Beckers also admitted shoplifting more than £100 worth of toiletries and perfumes from High Street stores Boots and Savers on February 4 2022 and stealing alcohol from The Bothy restaurant on May 4 2022.
Sheriff Clair McLachlan deferred sentence until June 26.
Wi-fi spy
A Perth vandal cut his neighbour’s phone line because “the wi-fi was spying on him”. Gary White twice took a pair of pliers to the BT Open Connect cable outside his home in North Port and was later found driving a Volvo with so many defects it was deemed too dangerous to drive. He also assaulted police in a separate offence.
Sexual assaults
Derrick Percival, 59, man who drunkenly followed a woman into a bathroom and sexually assaulted her has been ordered to perform unpaid work.
The Dundee man was convicted of carrying out two attacks on the woman during the incident at his home address.
Percival’s trial at the city’s sheriff court heard he had been hosting a gathering at the time and had been drinking alcohol throughout the day.
He denied committing the offences but Sheriff John Rafferty believed his victim and found Percival guilty of the two charges he faced.
Defence solicitor Ross Donnelly said first offender Percival maintained his innocence but said the social work report prepared ahead of sentencing was positive.
“This is clearly a man with a supportive family structure around him.
“He is assessed as a low risk of reoffending. Whatever his position, the effect this procedure has had on him has been fairly profound.”
Sheriff John Rafferty ordered him to perform 200 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to custody and placed him on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.
He told Percival: “The impression I formed of you Mr Percival is someone who had never been in trouble before.
“In drink and with no basis whatsoever, you decided on the conduct which was completely illegal and completely inappropriate.”
Murder charge
A man is to stand trial charged with the murder of a taxi driver in Dundee. Steven Greig, 46, is accused of attacking Mark Ward, 54, in Coupar Angus Road in Dundee on April 6 2022. He passed away a day short of a year later at the city’s Ninewells Hospital.
Luggage theft
An Arbroath thief who stole luggage from an LNER train passing through his hometown must save more than £1,000 to compensate its owner by September 12.
Gecho Zlatkov appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court, aided by a Bulgarian interpreter, having admitted stealing the suitcase on June 14 last year.
The court heard its owner was travelling from Newcastle to Stonehaven with a case full of presents, having been away on holiday.
CCTV showed Zlatkov, of Hay Terrace in Arbroath, alighting with the case at Arbroath station.
The case and contents had a value of £1,400 and nothing has been recovered.
The 30-year-old’s solicitor Billy Rennie explained his client, who runs a business processing used cooking oil, was previously convicted at Dumbarton Sheriff Court of stealing used oil from businesses.
Sheriff Derek Reekie gave Zlatkov three months to save up money to compensate his victim.
The sheriff said: “Your enterprise for making money sounds very questionable.”
Domestic assault
The head gardener at Dame Ann Gloag’s Perthshire castle has been sentenced to unpaid work and offender supervision for a “serious” attack on his former wife when they lived together in staff quarters there. Robert Isdale had denied the 2018 domestic assault at Kinfauns Castle but was convicted after a trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
Denies hitting pram pusher
An 83-year-old man has appeared in court accused of driving dangerously through a Perthshire village and colliding with a mum pushing a pram.
Pensioner Michael McEwan is accused of causing the woman serious injury and permanent impairment in the crash on September 4 2022.
The charge states McEwan drove a Vauxhall Corsa on the B9099 Stanley to Luncarty road, repeatedly swerved his vehicle, mounted a nearside kerb and collided with the woman, who was pushing an 18-month-old child.
McEwan is alleged to have injured the woman and caused damage to the pram.
Prosecutors claim he then mounted the offside kerb, before striking a wall and metal fence.
McEwan denied the charge when he attended a pre-trial hearing on Thursday and the case was continued to next week.
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