A drink-driver said “I need to get to my mum” after crashing into a fence 100 yards from his Dundee home.
Ben Prophet, 20, was found to be more than double the limit after losing control of his Ford Fiesta Zetec on Drumlanrig Drive.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard how residents heard a “loud bang” at around 12.15am on April 14 last year.
Prophet collided with another vehicle before striking a garden fence, according to fiscal depute Michael Robertson.
He said: “There was significant damage to both vehicles and the fence.
“Another witness also heard the bang and attended at the scene.
“She observed the accused and heard the accused stating ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened’ and ‘I need to get to my mum’.”
Prophet walked the short distance to his home on Mauchline Place as police attended the scene.
He was taken to Ninewells Hospital and a blood sample was taken while he was being assessed, which showed he was over the limit (125mgs/ 50).
Prophet pled guilty to drink-driving and careless driving.
Solicitor Gary McIlravey said: “It had been some time from his last drink.
“He felt okay to drive but plainly, he wildly underestimated his ability to drive.
“He is something like 100 yards from his own house. He lost control at a corner.”
The court heard insurance covered the cost of the damage caused.
Prophet was fined £520 and disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Hit with car
A teenager was deliberately hit with a car on a busy Dundee road after becoming embroiled in a heated dispute with a stranger. Gemma Duncan mounted the pavement on Albert Street and ploughed her Peugeot 207 into the back of the 18-year-old’s leg before striking a butcher’s shop.
£4 million cocaine seizure
Perth man Brian Skinner is one of two behind bars after police seized £4m of high-purity cocaine.
Skinner, 58, and Shaun Willis, 35, were caught in a drugs handover in Dennistoun, Glasgow, on October 12 2023.
Police had earlier got information a large quantity of narcotics was being ferried into Scotland in a grey Cupra car.
Prosecutor David McDonald told the High Court in Glasgow the car was then spotted being driven north on the M74 by Willis.
He stopped in the city’s Dunragit Sreet and parked beside an Audi A4 with Skinner behind the wheel.
The haul of drugs was passed from one car to the other and police swooped.
Skinner had 25 taped packages in his vehicle and Willis still had 15 in his.
Mr McDonald told the hearing: “(Willis) said that he had travelled from the Merseyside area to Glasgow that day… in order to meet with Mr Skinner and provide him with 25kg of cocaine.
“He went on to tell officers that he intended to meet with another individual with the 15kg of cocaine in his car before he was stopped.”
The drugs had a purity of up to 78%.
Mr McDonald said the potential value, if sold in the smallest street deal of one gram, was just over £4m.
Skinner and Willis, of Southport, Merseyside, both pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
They had been on bail but were both remanded by judge Lord Mulholland and will be sentenced next month.
He told the pair: “Be under no misapprehension – the amount of cocaine for supplying into Scotland was very significant and will attract a lengthy sentence.”
Historical child abuse
A Dundee man has been placed on the sex offenders register after sexually abusing a young boy more than a decade ago. Brandon Harrington targeted the child at an address in the city when the boy was between the ages of seven and nine and Harrington – now 26 – was 13.
Fire risk
An Arbroath man has admitted endangering others by torching the carpet in his former home.
Wayne Robb appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court and admitted culpable and reckless conduct on November 1 2023.
The 46-year-old set fire to a carpet within the property at Arbirlot Road West, endangering people there.
His solicitor Keith Sym said: “I don’t think the damage was significant but the risk was there.
“He’s in a different address now. I think he was struggling with neighbour issues and mental health issues.”
Now of Hill Street in Arbroath, Robb will be sentenced on April 17 after being assessed by social workers.
Assaulted four
A Fife thug attacked three partners – including when two of the women were pregnant – and battered a man in the street with a golf club. Gordon Gibson, 27, has been jailed for 43 months.
Groper on register
A man who sexually assaulted a woman in Fife will be on the sex offenders register for the next six months.
Gordon Meldrum, 54, previously pled guilty to carrying out the drunken attack at an address in Colinsburgh on July 27 last year.
Meldrum, who lives in the village, was visited by two women.
Fiscal depute Kate Scarborough said: “(They) were permitted entry to speak with the accused in the living room.
“He had clearly been drinking throughout the day and was intoxicated by the time of speaking with him.
“As they went to leave, the complainer went to give the accused a hug goodbye and in the course of that, the accused placed his hands on her buttocks over clothing, repeatedly handled it with his hand and seized hold of her whilst hugging.”
The woman left “immediately” before becoming “significantly distressed” and crying after getting back to her car.
Meldrum denied the allegations during an interview with police but pled guilty at Dundee Sheriff Court last month on the day he was due to stand trial.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael placed him on supervision for six months to run alongside his notification period.
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