A man who repeatedly raped a woman and a young child over a near-decade-long period has been jailed for 12 years.
Kenneth Samson, 42, preyed on the females at locations in Dundee and Perthshire between January 2000 and July 2000.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how he threw his first victim onto a bed at a house in the city and raped her.
He then started preying on an eight-year-old girl and subjected her to repeated rapes between January 2005 and July 2008.
The court heard how he also attempted to sexually assault a third woman some time between January 2001 and January 2013.
Samson, also of Dundee, denied any wrongdoing during a trial earlier this year and the court heard he maintains that position, despite the verdict.
He appeared for sentencing before judge Norman McFadyen, who ordered Samson be supervised for three years following his release from custody and placed him on the sex offenders register for life.
Judge McFadyen described some of the attacks as “violent” and “opportunistic”.
Terror after robbery
A 76-year-old pensioner was left too scared to go out alone after being attacked in a robbery by a heartless thug in Dundee. Daniel Ferrara, 32, is now locked up after a jury convicted him of carrying out the callous crime on the city’s Victoria Street.
£3k till theft
A former Brechin garden centre worker has admitted stealing £3,000 from the till – more than seven years ago.
Anne Scott, of Market Street, Brechin, appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit stealing from Trinity Garden Centre while she was employed there between December 2017 and December 2018.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Hodgson said: “It’s pocketing money while working on a till.”
Scott’s solicitor Michael Boyd explained his client, 59, never appeared in court until 2025 to answer an initiating warrant.
Mr Boyd said his client had turned to stealing to make payments as the guarantor on her son’s car finance agreement.
He said: “She’s a married woman, she’s been married for 10 years.
“What had happened is there was a matter she hadn’t disclosed with her spouse.
“She’s lost her job. She hasn’t worked since this offence.”
Mr Boyd explained none of the stolen money has been repaid.
Sheriff Derek Reekie told the first offender her stealing was “a significant breach of trust from your employers.”
He added: “I’m disappointed to see there’s not been any effort to make some recompense.
“You don’t need the court to order you to do that if you’re doing the right thing.”
The sheriff deferred sentencing until May 29 and ordered background reports.
Footballer guilty
Former footballer Paul McQuade was found guilty of causing serious injury by careless driving after a crash in Kinross-shire. The ex-Cowdenbeath striker pulled out a of a junction into the path of a biker, who suffered multiple broken bones.
Warrant for new mum
A warrant was issued for a new mum after she failed to appear at court for pinning a woman against a building with her car.
Naomi McPhee, 25, previously admitted causing serious injury at a car park on Pitkerro Road on May 13 last year.
McPhee pled guilty to driving a BMW X5 carelessly by failing to keep a proper lookout, losing control of her car, colliding with a bollard and a pedestrian, causing her to be pinned against a building.
A social work report had been ordered and McPhee, of School Road in Broughty Ferry, was due to be sentenced at Dundee Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
Solicitor Leigh Martin, however, said his client had only been discharged from hospital on Monday after giving birth the previous Saturday.
That explanation was not enough to stop Sheriff John Rafferty granting a warrant for her arrest, citing a lack of vouching and McPhee’s previous failures to appear in court.
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