Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
17 days of child abuse videos
A north-east man has been placed on the sex offender’s register after being caught with nearly 17 days’ worth of child sex abuse videos.
Jordan Gall, 27, was found in possession of nearly 7,000 indecent images of children and more than two weeks of video footage – most of which were in the worst category.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told that some of the video footage found on Gall’s mobile phone featured babies.
The total run time of the videos discovered was 16 days, 13 hours and 50 minutes.
Cyclist chased and sexually assaulted schoolgirl
A cyclist who chased a 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her at a Moray beauty spot has been warned he will go to prison if he doesn’t get help for his predatory impulses.
Benjamin Mearns, 40, grabbed the schoolgirl and exposed her breasts near the River Spey at Fochabers.
The disturbing daytime attack came after the girl and her friends made their way home from an afternoon of swimming at the river.
Airbnb disturbance
A man seen assaulting his girlfriend by “dragging” her to and fro by the arms told police he was “disco dancing” with her.
A concerned neighbour called the police after witnessing Jamie Laws drunkenly pulling his girlfriend around their Aberdeen Airbnb while she repeatedly shouted for help.
The 27-year-old had been on a city break north from Carnoustie with his partner of nine years and another couple when “things got out of hand”, his solicitor told Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Scales of justice
A man caught with bags of cannabis and scales in his car has insisted he only used the scales to keep track of how much he was smoking.
Glen Brown was spotted getting out of his car on Reisque Avenue, Newmachar, by police responding to intelligence about “potential drug dealing” in the area.
The 20-year-old was stopped and officers searched his vehicle and recovered bags of the class B drug along with scales and incriminating material on his phone.
Toilet destruction
A man celebrated his 44th birthday by getting so intoxicated he “blacked out” and smashed up a toilet near Aberdeen University – causing £3,000 of damage.
Steven Gray, now 45, “blacked out” due to drugs he’d taken and had no recollection of wandering into a building site at Aberdeen University during the night.
But when a security guard heard strange noises coming from the site’s toilet block, he called the police.
Headbutt attacker must save up for compensation
A man who headbutted a police officer and caused him memory loss could spend Christmas in jail if he doesn’t save enough money to compensate his victims, a sheriff has told him.
Thomas Stewart inflicted life-changing injuries on the police constable who was trying to apprehend him after he repeatedly punched a taxi driver.
The 27-year-old resisted arrest when he was traced on Mayfield Road, Inverness, where he headbutted the policeman and knocked his semi-conscious victim to the ground.
Assault at wake
A lorry driver hit a man in the face with a glass bowl when an argument started after a funeral.
Mark Hodge had watched the man and another mourner become increasingly drunk as the day wore on, and eventually stepped in to intervene when they began to argue.
But when one of the angry men came for him, he swung out with a glass bowl, hitting him in the face and leaving him permanently scarred.
Woman clawed partner
A woman “clawed” her partner’s face, neck and body with her fingernails after he raised concerns about her drinking.
Iwona Lastowska’s partner realised she had been drinking when she called him at work on Valentine’s Day, causing concern as she was at home in charge of the children.
After taking the youngsters to his sister’s house, he argued with Lastowska, at which point she attacked him with her fingernails, causing him to call 999.
Get the latest crime and court stories delivered straight to your inbox
Every day our reporters are sitting in courtrooms around the area and now you can get their stories sent directly to you, five days a week.
Cake row sparks slashing
A teenager slashed his brother across the head with a knife during a row over unhealthy eating habits.
Tyler Grant permanently disfigured his elder sibling with the blade at their home in Alness last November.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told how Grant, 19, turned violent after his mum returned home with a number of cakes.
Window smasher
A woman threw stones through her ex’s kitchen window after going round to see him but discovering he wasn’t there.
Carrie Findlay rattled the letterbox, rang the buzzer and banged on windows before resorting to the extreme method of gaining access to her former partner’s home in Inverurie.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard differing accounts of whether or not the 20-year-old had been invited to the address or not.
Disqualified driver’s high-speed chase
Police had to use a stinger to stop a high-speed pursuit with a disqualified driver – who didn’t realise his car was stolen and linked to English drug dealing gangs.
Shaun Kilminster believed the police were trying to stop him because he was banned from driving, so took off at 90mph in a bid to lose them.
But the 23-year-old – who had just bought the Ford Focus in Dundee – “panicked” and refused to stop, even after the tyres had been punctured by a stinger device.
Nando’s assault
Two teenagers chased a man into an Aberdeen Nando’s and battered him in front of terrified diners.
The teens, both 17 and who cannot be named for legal reasons because of their age, admitted their involvement in the vicious assault at the Union Square chicken restaurant.
The older of the two, along with an unidentified person, chased the man into the branch before pushing him to the ground and punching him.
Nightmare neighbour brandished metal pole
A man posted a lit cigarette through his terrified neighbour’s letterbox and then brandished a metal pole in her garden while shouting obscenities.
After dropping the cigarette into her home Simon Watt shouted through the letterbox: “I’m sorry but we are finished. I’m going to blow your house up”.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how the 48-year-old’s aggressive behaviour didn’t end there and he was later seen outside in the woman’s Ashgrove Gardens home shouting “I am going to have you” before flinging a spanner at her wall.
Attempted robber thwarted by brave mum
A man whose attempt to hold up a local shop with a screwdriver was thwarted by a brave mum on the school run has been found guilty.
Michelle Fraser told the jury she bundled Jason Ryan to the ground after she spotted him brandishing a screwdriver at the shop assistant.
Ryan had denied charges of attempted robbery, attempted robbery and assault, threatening or abusive behaviour and two counts of possession of a bladed or sharply pointed article.
Get the latest crime and court stories delivered straight to your inbox
Every day our reporters are sitting in courtrooms around the area and now you can get their stories sent directly to you, five days a week.
Sick law student’s career in tatters
A law student’s creepy anonymous calls using a robot voice making sexual threats to women have left his career in tatters, his lawyer told a court today.
Adam Fowlie plagued three fellow students with chilling calls while hiding his number and, for one victim, using an automated voice generator to disguise his identity.
The 23-year-old – who told a woman “I want to rape you” before mentioning her name and where she lives – was eventually unmasked when one of his victims used an app that could reveal withheld phone numbers.
TV presenter’s stalker avoids jail
Aberdeen television presenter Isla Traquair has hit out after a judge spared her relentless stalker prison time, saying: “I cannot feel safe while he’s free.”
The former STV and Channel 5 newsreader was forced to flee her idyllic 1700s country cottage on the edge of the Cotswolds to escape neighbour Jonathan Barrett’s “campaign of vengeance”.
The 54-year-old was found guilty of stalking Ms Traquair during a trial at Salisbury Magistrates Court.
Former shooting club safety officer loses guns
A former shooting club safety officer has been ordered to hand over his guns after he was caught storing two rifles in a canvas bag in the spare room.
Gary Marshall, 39, normally kept the firearms locked away in a gun cabinet but on this occasion forgot he’d left them lying on the bed at his partner’s home, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
The court heard that the experienced rifle owner, who had previously acted as the safety officer for a local shooting club, was “embarrassed” and “upset” by his actions.
Marshall, of Beauly, admitted a single charge under the firearms act.
Man kicks off outside court building
A man whose angry reaction to an unexpected jail sentence left two court security employees injured has been sent back to prison.
Christopher Munro, known as Christie, had been expecting to be released from custody on April 26 2019 but was instead handed a 14-month jail term.
The 31-year-old didn’t react well and “kicked off” as he was being led into the prison van outside Aberdeen Sheriff Court, injuring two guards.
NC500 charity speeder
A charity fundraiser has admitted driving a Porsche carelessly on an NC500 road.
Michael Hammond, 53, had paid £2,500 to a children’s charity to take the Porsche on a trip to visit the Highlands but ended up on the wrong side of the law.
He was stopped by police officers on the North Coast 500 route after he was spotted driving the sports car at excessive speed while overtaking a cyclist.
Runaway rapist behind bars
A rapist who fled the country after carrying out a sex attack on a vulnerable teenager outside an Aberdeen nightclub was today jailed for three years and nine months.
Remus Covaciu spent eight years on the run and started a new life in France with a wife and two children before he was extradited to Scotland last year.
He admitted attacking his then 18-year-old victim in Aberdeen while she was under the influence of alcohol and incapable of consenting on January 19 in 2013.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen and the latest crime and breaking incidents, join our new Facebook group.
