A sheriff has remanded a man in custody over an alleged £180,000 drugs find in a Dundee house.
Vien Nguyen appeared at the city’s sheriff court on petition in private accused of being involved in drug dealing from the address.
Prosecutors allege the 27-year-old was concerned in the supply of cannabis at a property on Ledmore Terrace in the Gowrie Park area.
Nguyen – a Vietnamese national – is also alleged to have produced the Class B drug from the address.
Police allege around 300 plants with an estimated street value of £180,000 were discovered following a raid on the property.
Sheriff Ray Small remanded Nguyen, who has no fixed abode, after committing him for further examination.
Nguyen’s court appearance comes after Police Scotland claimed cannabis worth £1.26million had been seized from three properties, including the Ledmore Terrace address.
It is claimed cannabis worth £480,000 and £600,000 was discovered in an industrial unit on Nobel Road in Wester Gourdie Industrial Estate in Dundee and at a derelict property on Allan Street, Blairgowrie, respectively.
No charges have been brought in connection with those discoveries.
Clemency plea
The family of a pensioner killed in an Angus crash has pled for mercy to be shown to the young driver who caused her death. Aberdeenshire student Bethany Fraser admitted failing to give way and crashing at a rural junction while driving home from a hen party. Her former partner’s grandmother Agnes “Jo” Clark was a passenger in the car and later died.
Fuelled-up fraudster
A fraudster has admitted conning a Perthshire petrol station out of hundreds of pounds.
Ben Johnston spent a year tricking staff at the Bullionfield BP station on the A90 at Invergowrie, into giving him free fuel.
Perth Sheriff Court heard he routinely attended to fill up his Dacia Sandero in the forecourt.
At the counter, he pretended to employees he did not have cash to pay and filled out a civic recovery form, giving someone else’s address.
Johnston, 37, of Tulloch Court, Dundee, pled guilty to running a fraudulent scheme – making £526 – between January 22 2023 and January 1 2024.
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC deferred sentence until September.
Debt con fraudster
A fraudster who swindled her partner out of £32,000 in an elaborate five-year scam has been spared jail. Mary McDonald posed as her boyfriend and let debts spiral to the point he was facing bankruptcy. He only found out after the couple were evicted from their four-bedroom property in Perthshire.
Battling Bancrofts
A trio of siblings have been sentenced after they wound up in the dock together because an argument after a party ended with knives and a piece of wood.
18-year-old Faith Bancroft previously appeared at the town’s sheriff court to admit assaulting a female outside her Dunearn Drive home on May 7 last year by seizing her by the hair, engaging in a fight, striking her on the body with a knife and repeatedly punching her on the head to her injury.
She and her brothers Christian Bancroft, 19, also of Dunearn Drive, and 24-year-old Callum Carr, of Links Street, all admitted acting in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing, making violent threats, engaging in a struggle with the female and brandishing a knife.
Fiscal depute Sarah Smith told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court that following a party the night before at the complainer’s address, a dispute arose over social media.
The complainer appeared outside the Bancrofts’ home with a piece of wood in her possession so Faith Bancroft grabbed her and a fight broke out.
Carr got a knife from inside and during the fight, both females had possession of knives.
At a sentencing hearing, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: “You could quite easily have a situation where some tragedy arises.
“I don’t diminish matters, I can quite see how this started.
“It is clear that the incident was started by other persons but then Mr Carr, you have aggravated the situation – you’ve increased the level of severity by your actions.”
Christian Bancroft was ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work.
Callum Carr was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and placed under supervision for a year and a half.
Faith Bancroft was placed under a structured deferred sentence for three months.
Rally abuse
Racist former soldier Marc Gautier called people at a Palestine solidarity rally “scum” during a drunken tirade in Dundee city centre. A disgusted sheriff said he had considered jailing the disgraced 52-year-old.
‘Receptionists are like Broder Force’
A concerned GP called police after a patient threatened to roam the streets of Aberfeldy armed with a knife.
Perth Sheriff Court heard how Kerry Fox went to the town’s health centre at around 3pm on April 16 this year.
She became irate when she was told a prescription was not ready for collection.
Fox ranted: “Receptionists are like Border Force – you can’t get past the b******s.”
She left the Taybridge Road clinic and her GP was told what had happened so called Fox at home.
Fiscal depute Duncan McKenzie said: “She became irate and hostile and began shouting.”
Fox told the GP: “I’m walking the streets of Aberfeldy with a knife. I might start to use it.
“If that’s the only way anyone’s going to do anything, then maybe I will.”
Mr McKenzie said: “Given the threats made, the GP told Ms Fox that should have to contact the police because she was concerned about public safety.”
Fox, 38, of Cluny Crescent, Aberfeldy, admitted a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
Solicitor Mike Tavendale said his client had suffered mental health issues.
Sheriff Alison McKay told Fox: “This was an appalling way to behave towards doctors.
“They have a hard enough job as it is, without having to deal with things like this.”
Fox was ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work as a direct alternative to prison.
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