A 64-year-old former janitor has been sentenced in connection with sexual offences involving two girls in the Inverkeithing area.
Albert Shaw was given a 10-and-a-half year sentence at the High Court in Glasgow on for the offences which happened between March 2016 and March 2019.
The girls were aged under-13 when the offences began.
Detective Inspector Graham Watson, of Police Scotland’s Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “I hope this sentence helps Shaw’s victims come to terms with what happened and that they can now move on with their lives.
“We encourage anyone who is the victim of sexual crime to get in touch, regardless of the time that has passed.
“We have specialist officers who will carry out enquiries and work towards bringing those responsible to justice.”
Knicker knocker back again
Arbroath’s notorious knicker knocker has been placed on the sex offenders register again after being snared in an undercover online police sting. Graham Orrock, who rose to infamy after admitting raiding washing lines across his hometown, pled guilty to sending explicit images over Snapchat to what he thought was a 12-year-old girl but was in fact an undercover police officer.
10 out of 10
A teenage driver got “10 out of 10 for honesty” when he phoned police after crashing his car while high on cocaine and ketamine.
Zack Hunter, of the town’s Bloomfield Gardens, appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to be sentenced having previously admitted drug-driving.
The 18-year-old pled guilty to driving with excess cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine (129mics/ 50) and ketamine (186mics/ 20) on August 3 last year.
On Emislaw Drive, the first offender called police after he had crashed at just after 4am.
His lawyer Billy Rennie said: “10 out of 10 for honesty – he was the one who phoned the police.
“He’s not troubled the courts before. His parents are most unhappy about this.”
The apprentice roofer was fined £520 by Sheriff Paul Ralph and disqualified from driving for a year.
The sheriff said: “I know lots of things seem like a lot of fun and that there’ll be no consequences to them, but you’ve just found out the hard way that’s not the case.
“Things can come tumbling down very quickly. Hopefully that’ll remind you in the future.”
Bricked
A thug who repeatedly struck a man in the head with a brick in Glenrothes has been jailed for 14 months. Dale Cowan, 31, previously pled guilty to the assault at an address in Tarves Place on December 1.
‘Strange’ gambling
A recovering gambling addict from Bridge of Earn who defrauded his former partner out of £300 has been ordered to pay back the money.
Crawford Allwood, 29, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court to be sentenced having admitted the domestically-aggravated fraud between November 2023 and January 2024.
After getting access to the woman’s bank details, he used them to spend hundreds with online betting firms.
Allwood, of Todd Place, was commended for securing work as a labourer, going seven months without betting and blocking himself from betting sites for five years.
His lawyer Billy Somerville said: “It’s a strange thing to do. If he won any money, it would have been paid back into the complainer’s account.”
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC placed Allwood under supervision for six months and ordered him to repay the £300 in compensation and complete 67 hours of unpaid work.
Death crash fine
Haulage firm Colin Lawson Transport Ltd has been fined more than £240,000 for safety failures that led to the death of an Angus motorist. George Moran from Arbroath was killed and his wife seriously injured after a load being carried by the firm’s lorry came loose and stuck his car on the A92 St Cyrus to Montrose road.
Biter
A pub worker was bitten on the arm by Ashley Fyffe, 45, who also sank her teeth into a man at the Balcony Bar on Dundee’s Ward Road on March 29 last year.
Fyffe was not present when the case against her called at Dundee Sheriff Court but a guilty plea was tendered in her absence by solicitor Kevin Hampton.
She admitted seizing the employee’s body, pushing her, punching her on the head and body and biting her on the arm.
Fyffe, who lives in Blackpool, also seized and bit the arm of Andrew Johnston.
Sheriff Morag Fraser called for Fyffe, who has a history of mental health issues and is recovering from surgery, to be personally present for the next hearing in March.
Stirling court round-up
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119mph
A motorcyclist spotted by police in Angus travelling at 119mph has been disqualified from driving.
Joseph Mearns appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit driving dangerously on the A92 near Muirdrum on July 28 last year.
Prosecutor Lora Apostalova explained that at 6.15pm, police recorded the triple-figure reading and stopped 31-year-old Mearns, of Perth Road in Dundee.
His solicitor Billy Rennie said: “Weather conditions were clear and dry, traffic conditions were light.
“The bike’s up for sale. He’d only had it two or three months.
“The temptation to open it up and see what it could do got the better of him.”
Mr Rennie said his client’s job, based in Pittenweem in the fishing industry, would come to an end with a driving ban.
Sheriff Paul Ralph imposed a 12-month ban and ordered Mearns to complete 66 hours of unpaid work and resit the extended driving test before getting behind the wheel again.
He said: “You don’t need me to tell you it’s an outrageous speed.
“You placed yourself at risk of harm – probably more than just harm.”
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