Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Breakfast Buckfast disturbance
A mum-of-three who stole £850 worth of whisky and brandished a bottle of Buckfast at police has had almost three months added on to her jail sentence.
Ellie-May Devlin is already serving a 16-month sentence behind bars at HMP Inverness after being jailed in June for breaking into the Marine Hotel in Buckie.
But now her earliest release date of January 2023 has been knocked on a further 80 days after she admitted a string of further offences.
Drug dealer weeps in dock
A drug trafficker caught with high purity cocaine worth more than £120,000 sobbed as he was jailed for 40 months.
Police recovered nearly a kilo of the drug during a raid at the home of satellite engineer Brett Ewen, 32, at his home in Aberdeen.
They also found a press in a shed in the rear garden of the Rosehill Avenue property and signs that Ewen may have been adulterating the drug to a lower level of purity.
Anti-masker’s supermarket confrontation
A man who took flung food at supermarket staff and called them “social racists” because they wanted him to wear a mask has appeared in court.
Not long after the Sainbury’s confrontation Raymond Sanders rang 999 and told call handlers he was going to “commit murder” at the store.
Sanders’ anti-mask tirade continued when police turned up at his home and he branded them “f****** space aliens” for wearing PPE.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told Sanders “fully accepts he has behaved awfully”.
Ex-policeman convicted of sex offences
A retired north-east police officer has been jailed for more than three years after a jury found him guilty of sex offences involving underage girls and women.
Gordon Raeper, who was a serving officer at the time of his offences, was found guilty following a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court of charges relating to girls as young as 12 between 1984 and 2004.
The 66-year-old was convicted of two charges of wearing bondage gear and exposing himself to a 12-year-old girl between November 2000 and November 2004.
Robber targeted ‘exceptionally vulnerable’ man
A career criminal who marched an “exceptionally vulnerable” disabled man to a bank machine and stole hundreds of pounds was today jailed for 38 months.
Dale Davidson’s victim was left “shaking and terrified” after being forced to hand over his PIN number on July 15, 2020.
The High Court in Glasgow was told Davidson threatened violence against the man, who requires a carer, before snatching £500 from the machine and breaking the bank card in two.
Axe-wielding raider
An axe-wielding teen who robbed an Aberdeen newsagent celebrated as he left court – despite not having been sentenced yet.
Jay Jamieson brandished a “large axe” at the terrified shop worker at Jolly Stores on Springhill Road and threatened to “chop” him before fleeing with just over £300.
But the 19-year-old was caught just minutes later as officers spotted him running along a nearby road and deployed a police dog, leading to a swift surrender.
Snapchat sex pics
A Moray man who sent indecent images of his private parts to a 13-year-old girl and called it a “drunken mistake” has been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
Callum Bowie sent the photos and video to the child over Snapchat when he was 18 in December 21 2020.
His solicitor claimed this was a two-way conversation but conceded “the difficulty is the age of the complainer”.
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Neighbours’ shock as knifeman appeared in street
A man has avoided a prison sentence after he brandished a large carving knife in the street as his neighbours looked on in horror.
Keith Morris, 23, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted walking into Bonnyview Drive, Aberdeen and holding the knife “outstretched” as he shouted and swore at a man and woman.
Morris, who has previously served a prison sentence for knife crime, also admitted to throwing a bicycle toward the pair.
The crying mugger
A desperate Aberdeen mugger armed with a screwdriver burst into tears when his victim said she didn’t have any money.
Rafael-Samuel Mirauta approached the woman as she walked along Aberdeen’s George Street, before pulling out the screwdriver and holding it inches from her face.
But when the woman insisted she didn’t have any cash, the 24-year-old began to cry, prompting the woman to say that she “might have a pound in her purse”.
But as the mugger “appeared to ponder” the offer, the woman saw her chance and managed to run away.
Truck driver admits killing OAP
A trucker who killed a Highland pensioner and left his wife badly hurt is behind bars.
Garry Tierney, 46, smashed head-on into a car driven by Matthew Donnell, 86, after going onto the wrong side of the road.
Matthew tragically never recovered following the crash on the A939 at Dava Moor, about four-and-a-half miles north of Grantown-on-Spey, on October 7 2020.
Teen girl in court after street incident
A 17-year-old girl has appeared in court after a man was found lying seriously injured on a street in Inverurie.
Police were called to Blackhall Road in the town at around 3.30pm on Thursday.
A section of the road was cordoned off while the emergency services dealt with the reported disturbance.
Despicable thief stole dead man’s savings
A thief targeted a pensioner who he knew was partially sighted so he could steal £420 of her dead husband’s savings.
Philip Maybury paid a visit to the home of the woman in Dyce and got inside after insisting that the 78-year-old knew his mum.
But instead the 47-year-old used the opportunity to snoop about the woman’s flat and make off with the cash, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Knifepoint robber jailed
An armed robber who held a man at knifepoint and demanded he hand over more than £200 has been jailed for three years.
Anthony Heeps put the blade to the neck of a man who was waiting for a withdrawal at the cash machine in Old Aberdeen, the city’s sheriff court heard.
The man had been taking out £245 when Heeps, 34, turned on him at around 12.45am on March 28 this year.
He promptly handed over the cash after Heeps held a 7cm knife to the front of his neck.
Wolf bite lands man in court
A man who jumped on a woman and bit her “like a wolf” has admitted assault.
Mark Stewart changed his plea to guilty after hearing the prosecution case.
His victim told the court that she thought she was “going to die” in the March 2019 attack when he pounced on her at a friend’s home following a night of drinking.
Mugger’s ‘almost lethal’ cocktail of drugs
A woman who battered an acquaintance and stole her jacket has been handed help and support to tackle her long-standing troubles with addiction.
Olivia Rennie had been out for a walk in Fraserburgh with the woman and a third person when she carried out the unprovoked attack.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that Rennie had taken a “potentially lethal cocktail of drugs” before she lashed out and began punching the woman in the face before wrestling her jacket off her.
PayPal stalker
A stalker used PayPal and seven fake phone numbers to bombard his ex-partner with messages and more than 80 calls per day.
Relentless Ian Adam created the fake numbers to get around his own number being blocked and used them to text and call the woman.
The 38-year-old even used PayPal to get in touch with his ex, sending her 10p with a message attached warning her he “won’t give up”.
Woman falsely accused man of rape
A woman falsely accused a man of rape in an “act of revenge” after he rebuffed her advances.
Susan Stewart told police officers a pack of lies and accused the man of sexually assaulting her following a night out in Fraserburgh on December 16 2018.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told she concocted the story after he told her he was more interested in dating her cousin.
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Racist drove at Polish neighbours
A racist woman who mounted the pavement with her car and drove at her Polish neighbours has been allowed to keep her licence.
Marie Sey or Harper berated her neighbours and told them to go back to Poland before driving along the pavement on Marquis Road, Aberdeen, stopping “just inches” from them.
But despite the terrifying incident, and another separate driving offence, the 35-year-old has not been banned from driving and instead got penalty points.
Hospital worker stole from patient
A heartless hospital worker who stole hundreds of pounds from an elderly patient as he lay sick in bed has avoided a prison sentence.
Occupational therapist Ismael Lavares pocketed the 70-year-old patient’s belongings, including his bank card, then went downstairs to an ATM inside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and took out £500 in cash.
The 42-year-old appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for sentencing after he admitted stealing from the pensioner, who was in his ward following a collapse.
Banned drink-driver crashed new car into tree
A teenager who crashed his new car into a tree just hours after buying it was already banned from the road for drink-driving.
Caleb Stewart was just three months into his disqualification when he decided to buy a new car and ended up crashing it – once again while over the drink-drive limit.
Banff Sheriff Court heard how the 19-year-old is already banned because he drunkenly rode his motorbike through Aberchirder with a passenger on the back
Swindler pulled the same con at Lidl
An Aberdeen man who was recently jailed for scamming a company out of £207,000 has had his sentence extended after he admitted pulling the same con at Lidl.
Dishonest Ryan Young, 35, was working as a trainee store manager at the Bucksburn supermarket when he swindled £23,000 over a three-month period.
After being sacked from there, he got a new job at an Aberdeen painting and decorating firm – then started swindling even more money from them.
Dad accused of stalking family
The mum of a Highland car crash victim has told a court that her estranged husband left “intimidating” letters to her and her daughters on the grave of their dead son.
David Foster, 58, is accused of stalking wife Heather and their grown-up daughters by sending letters and leaving menacing notes on his son Samuel’s grave and making malicious calls to police.
Heather Foster, who was giving evidence at Inverness Sheriff Court, said police turned up at her home in Lochend late at night after they received reports – allegedly from her ex – about an illegal lockdown party.
She said the incident, in March 2020, brought back painful memories of the night 18-year-old Samuel died just over a year earlier.
Sex abuse victims ‘failed by legal system’
The victims of a “depraved” child rapist today welcomed his nine-year jail sentence – but say the system failed them for 30 years.
John Sinclair’s brave victims first spoke to the police about his horrifying abuse in 1990 and he was charged, but for an unknown reason the case simply “disappeared”.
It was only decades later, when one of the women provided a statement to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in 2017, that the prosecution was picked up again and the case came to court.
Drink-driver flipped car
A Glasgow financial worker has been banned from the roads after he crashed and flipped his car while driving more than four times the drink-drive limit in Aberdeen.
David Young’s silver Volkwagen Polo collided with two vehicles on Ashley Road and ended up on its roof.
When a nearby member of the public heard the smash and came to help Young’s aid he noticed that his speech was slurred and was unsteady on his feet.
A blood test later showed that Young, 29, was more than four times the drink-drive limit.
Brenda Page lawyer leaves case at 11th hour
A defence lawyer involved in one of the north-east’s most high-profile murder trials has withdrawn from the case at the 11th hour.
Christopher Harrisson, 82, is accused of murdering his former wife Dr Brenda Page at her flat in Aberdeen in 1978.
But, on what would have been the first day of his trial at the High Court in Aberdeen, defence advocate David Moggach said that he was withdrawing from acting on Harrisson’s behalf due to a “breakdown” in the client-counsel relationship.
Man accidentally starved dog
A man has been banned from keeping dogs after accidentally starving his Border Collie Molly.
Molly was so emaciated by the time the SSPCA rescued her, that their employee could “feel all her bones”.
Owner Paul Kerr, 44, insisted he had been feeding the animal, but her condition was so serious that the SSPCA took her straight to a vet.
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