A brazen shoplifter who helped herself to more than £1,000 worth of beauty products from a Fife Boots has been ordered to repay the company £600.
Patricia Robertson, 27, appeared at Kirkcaldy Justice of the Peace Court to admit the theftsat Fife Central Retail Park in Kirkcaldy.
On October 20 last year, Robertson, of Bonnybridge Drive in Edinburgh, stole £1,041.29 worth of cosmetic items which have never been recovered.
Her solicitor said: “It’s obviously a significant sum. She does have analogous matters on her record.”
He told the court mum-of-two Robertson’s offending was opportunistic and she planned to sell the items to cover household costs.
JP David Davidson fined Robertson £110 altogether and ordered her to pay £600 compensation to Boots.
The JP said: “This is a considerable sum that is missing.”
Allegations dropped
Prosecutors have dropped assault allegations against St Johnstone legend Roddy Grant. The 58-year-old former striker was due to stand trial at Perth Sheriff Court this week accused of assaulting at man at the city’s Cherrybank Inn on January 29 2022.
Bra smuggler’s breaches
A woman who smuggled drugs into Perth Prison, hidden inside her bra, has had her sentence extended for repeatedly breaching a strict curfew order.
Gillian Smith was placed on a tag in September after pleading guilty to sneaking contraband into the maximum security jail.
The 39-year-old was spotted by staff delivering a suspect package to prisoner John Rae.
It contained a mobile phone, cannabis and liquid cannabinoid THC.
Smith, from Arbroath, returned to court days before Christmas and narrowly avoided getting jailed for multiple breaches of a six-month restriction of liberty order.
She was back in the dock this week to admit two further breaches.
The court heard she was away from her home between the curfew times of 7pm and 7am twice in October, for periods of 51 and 91 minutes.
Sheriff Simon Collins KC ordered a four week extension of her curfew order.
Pair guilty in police incident
BMW driver George Drinnan, 39, has been found guilty of endangering the lives of two police officers by trying to hit them with the car at Americanmuir Road in Dundee in February 2023. He will be sentenced later.
Co-accused Paul Coombs pled guilty to a dangerous driving offence committed during the same incident and was jailed.
Abuser jailed
An unrepentant domestic abuser who turned his violence upon his partner’s defenceless dogs has been jailed for more than a year.
Pawel Lukaszewicz, 37, of Atholl Street, Dundee, carried out a horrific catalogue of violence upon his former partner over a four-year period, threatening to kill her on several occasions in Aberdeen.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how Lukaszewicz called the woman a series of derogatory names, slammed her arm in a door and shoved her to the ground, causing a head injury.
Lukaszewicz also became violent with the woman’s four French bulldogs, regularly striking them to the body and back legs.
The court was told the animals were so frightened of him they would often urinate whenever he approached. One of the dogs also developed epilepsy, which a vet attributed to stress.
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton told the court Lukaszewicz “always appeared to have fun” while mistreating the dogs and would “smile and laugh” as he did it.
Lukaszewicz pled guilty to carrying out a course of conduct that was abusive to his former partner and a further charge of causing animals unnecessary suffering.
Defence solicitor Mike Monro conceded that his client’s “attitude to the complainer is perhaps not a healthy attitude” and stated that Lukaszewicz did not fully accept his guilt in some respects and claimed the couple had been “play fighting”.
In relation to the dogs, Mr Munro told the court Lukaszewicz claimed they were “not appropriately house trained” but “knows how serious this matter is”.
Sheriff Lesley Johnston told Lukaszewicz: “It’s clear to me that you continue to show very limited remorse and in my view, you sought to blame the complainer for your actions.”
She added Lukaszewicz even told a social worker he would “behave that way again and that he believes that was a good way of training dogs”.
She jailed him for 13 months, put a 10-year non-harassment order in place and banned him from keeping animals for five years.
‘Blind luck’
Charlie McCaffrey, 19, has been told it was “blind luck” he did not kill himself or a passer-by when he launched his car into the side of a building in Kinross-shire. He sped down Milnathort’s South Street in a Mercedes Benz before mounting a pavement and going “airborne”, smashing into the Green House conference centre.
Caught on CCTV
A career criminal is back behind bars after a botched break-in at a Perth petrol station.
Nathan Taylor was caught on CCTV desperately trying to boot his way into the outlet at Morrison’s supermarket.
Prosecutor Jill Drummond told Perth Sheriff Court the filling station store was locked up at about 10pm on May 27 last year.
“At 3.24am, the accused attended and attempted to force open the property by sliding, pushing, pulling and kicking the door.
“The glass of the door was shattered.”
Taylor was seen leaving the scene two minutes later.
A shop worker raised the alarm when he arrived at 5.50am and Taylor was identified from CCTV footage, Ms Drummond said.
He appeared in the dock and admitted attempting to break into the shop with intent to steal.
Sheriff Simon Collins KC jailed him for six months.
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