A man who assaulted a child with a belt for “cursing” has been told to “get into the 21st century.”
Bradley Beckles, 44, attacked the 12-year-old he was meant to be looking after at an address in Pitlochry.
At Perth Sheriff Court prosecutor Stephanie Paterson said: “Some time in the afternoon, the complainer had an argument with the accused about not liking the food that had been cooked for him.
“The complainer said under his breath, ‘What the fudge?’
“Assuming the complainer had sworn at him, the accused slapped him to the face.
“He then hit him on the back with a belt.”
The assault was overheard by a neighbour, who could see the young boy crying.
Ms Paterson said the child texted his mother at work and said Beckles “got angry at me” and “my lip is bursted and my face is blue, it’s cos I didn’t like his food.”
The boy added: “I said under my breath ‘what the fudge’ and he thought I cursed and got super-angry.”
When the mum phoned her son, she could hear Beckles in the background saying: “No one will disrespect me.”
Beckles pled guilty to the November 3 2024 assault.
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said the boy’s account “wasn’t the full story” but said his client accepted he should not have reacted in the way he did.
Sheriff Simon Collins KC said: “He needs to get into the 21st century” and fined Beckles, from Surrey, £375.
Harry Potter abuse
A drink-driver abused a police officer as a “Harry Potter-looking f***er” and threatened to bomb Dunfermline station after she was caught. Kelly McLaren, 29, made the “ridiculous” decision to drive 300 yards home from Kinross Golf Club after drinking pitchers of Martini.
Bus stop sex pest
A repeat sex offender who touched a 15-year-old boy and tried to kiss his hand at a bus stop has been hit with another prison sentence.
Creepy Scott Wilson targeted the child while he was waiting for a bus with friends on Station Road in Cupar on December 18 2023.
Former soldier Wilson stroked the boy’s hair during the sexually-motivated harassment, before his friends managed to pull him away.
In April, Wilson was locked up for sex attacks on three nurses at Ninewells Hospital and was branded a danger to the public by social workers.
Prosecutor Kate Scarborough previously revealed Wilson, who claimed to have served with the army in South Africa, approached, while “singing” and “acting in a strange manner” before engaging the boy in conversation.
Ms Scarborough said: “He made repeated attempt to grab the hand of the complainer before attempting to kiss the complainer’s hand.”
The boy was “very uncomfortable” by a friend who tried to get him away but Wilson grabbed his sleeve and repeatedly pulled him.
Wilson, serving a sentence at HMP Perth, admitted sexually assault and was sentenced to six months in prison and placed on the sex offenders register for seven years.
Christmas behind bars
A former restaurant boss who preyed on two teenage girls and molested them as they slept will spend Christmas behind bars after he instructed solicitors to have his bail withdrawn. Thomas McPhee had not had reports prepared in time for sentencing and asked to be locked up so they could be completed.
Reset
A Kirriemuir man has been placed under supervision after hanging onto stolen goods.
Ciaran Howcroft, 23, returned to Forfar Sheriff Court to be sentenced after admitting resetting power tools which had been dishonestly appropriated by theft while he was at Headhill Farm near Kirriemuir on February 13.
Further, he admitted resetting a quantity of sheep feeders, three leaf blowers and more power tools, all also dishonestly appropriated by theft, at a property in Thrums Gardens in Kirriemuir on June 27.
Reset is the crime of possessing property knowingly acquired by theft and intending to retain it.
Howcroft, of Kirriemuir, was placed under supervision for a year.
Secret phone
Child abuse videos were discovered after a woman found sick chats on Angus man Luke Walker‘s secret phone. He is now on the sex offenders register and will be sentenced later.
‘Be grateful’ for sentence
At Dunfermline Sheriff Court, Michael Greechan, 29, pled guilty to speeding at 64mph on the 30mph King’s Road in Rosyth in a Mercedes Benz on March 6 this year.
Prosecutor Amy Robertson told the court Greechan was overtaking on a dual carriageway section at the time.
A defence lawyer for Greechan, of Wedderburn Street, Dunfermline, said houses are set back some distance on both sides of the dual carriageway, with bushes on either side, and it is not the type of road where there would be pedestrians.
He said anxious Greechan had been having difficulties at home with “dogs behaving badly”, had gone to get some sort of pen and “let his anxiety get the better of him”.
The lawyer said his client needs a licence to keep his job as a concreter and highlighted financial commitments, including to a young family.
He said: “It appears to be a spur of the moment, rather stupid decision on a road where there is a degree of temptation to exceed the speed limit because of the nature of the road”.
Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane gave Greechan six penalty points and fined him £300, saying: “Be grateful you are not being disqualified today”.
Ignored convoy warnings
An Angus motorist shot past police officers as he hurtled towards a slow-moving road convoy. Blair Watson, 26, from Kinnettles, ignored warnings when he came across the abnormal load police convoy on the A94.
Third drink-drive conviction
A repeat drink driver from Arbroath has been banned from driving for four years.
Scott Taylor, 36, of John Street, was found guilty of driving with excess alcohol (74 mics/22) on Westway in Arbroath on April 30 last year, following a trial at Forfar Sheriff Court.
He admitted he was driving at that time with an expired licence and no insurance.
Solicitor Sarah Russo said: “He was going through a particularly difficult period.
“He was suffering from chronic back pain, he was being prescribed medication, he was also self-medicating with alcohol.
“Those difficulties are now behind him.”
Sheriff Ray Small banned Taylor from driving for four years, fined him £320 and ordered him to complete 180 hours of unpaid work over the next year.
The sheriff said: “This is now your third drink-driving (conviction).
“When it gets to that level, the court needs to start thinking about possible custodial sentences.”
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