Reports have been ordered for a drug dealer caught with cocaine worth more than £2,700 at his mother’s home in Dundee.
Scott Finlayson admitted being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug on Mauchline Place East, where he resides.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard how his crimes came to light after police received intelligence about drug-dealing at the property.
A warrant was executed on August 24 2022 and Finlayson, 50, was traced in the address with drug paraphernalia including tick lists and 27.75g of cocaine.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael deferred sentence until October for a social work report to be obtained.
Jailed for rape bid
A “deviant” who pounced on a drunk girl in a Dundee alleyway intent on raping her has been given an extended prison sentence. The terrified woman screamed as Gabrial Tsvetanov, 32, repeatedly pulled at and groped her during the early morning incident in the city centre.
Community payback order breach
A Fife man who told police he would chop off their heads, poke their eyes out and burn them to the ground has been given more unpaid work for breaching a community payback order imposed as punishment.
Gideon Stewart, 27, was being driven to a police station on June 21 2021 when he made the violent threats after officers found him naked and intoxicated in a flat in Dunfermline’s Inchkeith Drive.
He admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and resisting police arrest and was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard he has more than 129 hours outstanding on the order, which expired in November last year.
Stewart, of Halkett Crescent, Dunfermline, admitted the breach.
Defence lawyer Amy Harley said during the time he was doing unpaid work, he lost a close friend and his mental health plummeted.
He was not in stable accommodation and at one point was in a scatter flat in St Andrews and having to travel to Cupar for the work.
He has a labouring job lined up and no longer drinks alcohol.
He was ordered to carry out the remaining 129 hours and 10 minutes and given a further 30 hours, to be completed in six months.
Dine-and-dashers
A brass-necked dine-and-dash couple who cost Tayside restaurants almost £700 have each been jailed for eight months. Sean Dempsey, 41, and 34-year-old Kerry Anne Smith pled guilty to defrauding establishments throughout July.
Cash machine crook
Dundee Sheriff Court heard a crook helped himself to more than £1,200 after using a stolen card to empty a bank account.
John Copeland was jailed after he admitted withdrawing hundreds of pounds at a time from ATM machines.
The offences took place over a 10-day period, leaving the victim – who was not identified in court – with less than £10 in his account.
Prosecutor Alan Bell said on one occasion, Copeland and the complainer had been drinking and the latter fell asleep.
After noticing the bank card was missing, Virgin Money was contacted and Copeland’s withdrawals were discovered.
Copeland, of Lamberton Place in St Andrews, admitted stealing £250 from a Bank of Scotland ATM in the Fife town on March 13.
Between March 22 and 25 at Lloyds, St Andrews, he stole £250 with the bank card and committed an identical offence on March 23.
£500 was stolen from an ATM at Spar, Tom Morris Drive over a number of occasions on March 24.
Copeland, who was remanded at HMP Perth ahead of sentencing, also admitted stealing the contents of a tip jar at the St Andrews student union at St Mary’s Place on June 11.
Solicitor Lee Qumsieh said: “He has a long-standing drug problem and he is desperate to try and address that problem.”
Sheriff Garry Sutherland ordered Copeland, 47, to serve six months in custody.
Cannabis farmer
A man spent months tending to cannabis plants worth hundreds of thousands of pounds in cottages in the Angus countryside to pay off debts in his homeland of Albania. Erseld Rama pled guilty to producing and being concerned in supply.
Smashed bottles, threw TV
A woman had a television and kettle thrown at her by her partner during a month of “despicable” terror.
Michael Smith smashed bottles of Buckfast in his partner’s flat and attacked her between October and November 2023.
Smith, 31, was in the throws of a crack cocaine addiction and routinely obtained money from his partner to feed his cravings, Dundee Sheriff Court was told.
He was jailed for ten months after he pled guilty to engaging in an abusive course of conduct towards the woman – who wishes to continue with the relationship – between October 27 2023 and November 20 2023.
They had been in a relationship for five months prior to the first incident in October 2023 but had known each other for five years.
Prosecutor Douglas Thomson said Smith picked up a TV, which was still plugged in, and threw it towards her.
“He threw a kettle and threw a bottle of Buckfast at the internal door.
“The accused struck his head and blood started to spray across the room.”
Former crab boat worker Smith also admitted threatening violence, seizing the woman’s hair and body and digging his nails into her arm.
Solicitor Sarah Russo said: “He fully accepts his behaviour during this period was despicable.
“He was in the throes of a drug addiction at the time.
“The complainer can be described as a reluctant complainer who blames both his difficulties and her own difficulties for the deterioration of the relationship.”
Mrs Russo said Smith had been returning negative drug results at HMP Polmont and obtained a job in the prison, as well as enrolling in a parenting course.
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