A Dundee woman faces a lengthy jail term after deliberately burning a young child with an iron, reports The Courier this morning.
Coral Ann Chalmers, 22, claimed the child was injured after brushing against a cooker.
However, a paediatric expert concluded the triangular burn sustained by the young boy in November 2019 was most likely to have been caused by an iron, and Chalmers was found guilty by a jury at the court on Monday.
In the north edition of the Press and Journal, a man who beat a dog over the head with a shovel in a “brutal and violent attack” has been jailed for eight months.
‘Abhorrent act’
Bono the Labrador was left with broken teeth and there was blood on the walls after William Allan’s attack, Inverness Sheriff Court heard.
Sherrif Eilidh Macdonald criticised the 52-year-old for lying about the “abhorrent act” and his “lack of remorse”.
Stun guns
The Evening Telegraph features an Angus man who has been jailed for five years for possessing three stun guns.
Thomas Scott bought the weapons – disguised as torches – from an online shop and told police he did not know they were illegal.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard that the Carnoustie man had paranoid delusions, which led him to believe he was at risk of home invasion and purchased the items to protect himself.
Carnoustie man with ‘delusions of home invasion’ jailed for stun gun possession
In Aberdeen, shocking statistics by the Press and Journal have revealed just one in 220 fly-tipping incidents have resulted in fines across the north and north-east during the last year.
Rubbish dumped in streets
Reports of rubbish dumped in city streets and country lanes have surged since lockdown began.
Figures obtained by the paper show that incidents reported to councils in the region have surged by nearly 20% during the coronavirus pandemic to 5,551.
Despite the increase and the massive scale of the fly-tipping problem, just 25 fines were issued against offenders – with 12 in Moray alone, eight in the Highlands and five in Aberdeenshire.
Alleged murder bid
A man has appeared in court charged with attempted murder after a male was stabbed in the neck in Aberdeen, the Evening Express reports.
Emergency services raced to Gairsay Road in the early hours of Friday morning after a 45-year-old man sustained serious injuries during a “disturbance” in the area left a man in hospital.
Andrew Wallace, 46, has appeared in private at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, charged with assault to severe injury, permanent disfigurement, danger of life and attempted murder.
Boris on the back foot
In the Scottish Daily Mail, the scandal of Boris Johnson’s alleged remarks about coronavirus deaths has made the front page again.
Boris Johnson under siege after he denies 'bodies' remark but BBC and ITV confirm it https://t.co/VAtfrZSMdg pic.twitter.com/D5YnZkav7j
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) April 26, 2021
The prime minister “is under siege today” as questions mounted over his personal conduct in a string of controversies, the paper reports.
‘Bodies piled high’ claim
Ministers tried to play down yesterday’s revelation in the Daily Mail that Mr Johnson had allegedly raged at officials that he would rather see “bodies pile high in their thousands” than order a third lockdown – an allegation he continues to deny.
The Sun mocks up a police case file for its front page with the headline ‘Lying of Duty’, saying the Tories’ Westminster leaks row is “a plot worthy of the police drama”.
The tabloid reports that Boris Johnson hit back at Dominic Cummings last night — branding leaks that claimed the PM made a sick slur over the Covid-19 crisis as “lies”.
It goes on to say that Mr Cummings also accused Mr Johnson of wanting to stop the probe into the leak of information, as one of the suspects was Henry Newman, who is a close friend of the prime minister’s fiancee Carrie Symonds.
Tomorrow's front page: 'PM hits back over Cummings slur 'fibs'' https://t.co/txK9JWQHHM pic.twitter.com/fxoWVEtE9F
— The Sun (@TheSun) April 26, 2021
Closer to home
The Perthshire edition of The Courier reports on the shocking rape of a 52-year-old woman at a Perth beauty spot.
Forensic teams descended on a duck pond at the city’s Gannochy area, following reports of a serious sexual attack on Saturday evening.
The assault has shocked residents living on the edge of the pond.
‘Such a quiet area’
One said: “I just can’t believe something like that would happen here. It’s usually such a quiet area.”
In Fife, the title has a report on a three-year-old child who went missing from a nursery.
Sniffer dogs
Police were called in to search for the youngster, who wandered off from the Secret Garden Outdoor Nursery as children were playing in woodland in Letham, near Cupar, last Monday.
Locals said sniffer dogs were involved in the hunt for the child, who police said was found safe and well half an hour after the alarm was raised.