Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Renee MacRae murder trial begins
The first week of evidence has been heard at the long-awaited murder trial of William MacDowell, who is accused of murdering Inverness mum Renee MacRae and her three-year-old son Andrew 46 years ago.
MacDowell is in the dock at the High Court in Inverness and this week the jury has heard evidence from friends and relatives of Renee, as well as police officers who recently reopened the case.
MacDowell, formerly of Inverness, is accused of assaulting Andrew and Renee in a lay-by on the A9 on November 12, 1976. He is charged with causing them injury by unknown means, as a result of which they died, and thereby murdering them.
Read our recap of the week’s events here.
Man flagged down police to report his own crime
A drunk Buckie man has been hit with a fine after reporting his own crime to police.
Glen Wilcox flagged down police officers to show them his bloodied hand and tell them he’d just smashed his partner’s window following an argument.
The 38-year-old had assumed they’d be out looking for him but the officers were actually just out on mobile patrol, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
Samurai threats
Two men forced their way into a stranger’s Aberdeen home, battered him with a metal pole, demanded £1,500 and threatened to chop his head off with samurai swords.
The terrified occupant of the property on Pennan Road spotted Barry Robertson, 52, and Mark Main, 36, peering through his living room window late at night.
But when he challenged them they pushed their way inside and insisted he owed them money.
Charges dropped against Aberdeen airport traveller
A traveller who became the first person to be charged over claims he didn’t possess the correct Covid documentation when he arrived at Aberdeen International Airport has seen all charges against him dropped.
Lee Woollerton had been facing two charges under The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations 2020.
It was alleged that on May 21 2021 on his arrival in Scotland at Aberdeen International Airport he failed to possess a Covid-19 testing package for himself.
A second charge alleged the 55-year-old also failed to complete a passenger locator form.
Woman had to learn to walk again after horror crash
A woman suffered horror injuries and had to learn to walk again after her boyfriend crashed his car off a bridge in Aberdeenshire.
Deklyn Davidson was asked by his partner and a friend to slow down as he approached a bend and bridge over the old Formartine and Buchan railway line on the B999 at the Tillyeve junction.
But the 19-year-old, who had only passed his test around a month earlier, was going so fast his Golf couldn’t take the corner and crashed off the bridge onto the path 25-30 feet below.
It then bounced onto a verge and came to rest on its side in a field.
Controlling husband tracked wife with child’s iPad
A husband who secretly tracked his wife’s movements using their children’s iPad has admitted carrying out a seven-month campaign of abuse.
Andrew Mackenzie controlled and belittled his wife and also threatened to disclose intimate pictures if she ever tried to divorce him.
Elgin Sheriff Court was told how Mackenzie became obsessed with his wife’s private life, following her in the street and checking her phone regularly.
Man terrorised woman for almost a decade
An Inverness man who terrorised a woman for almost a decade and twice put her life in danger by strangling her is behind bars.
Ricky Smith admitted touching the woman’s private parts to check if she had been having sex and twice injuring her by throttling her.
The 54-year-old was brought from prison to Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, where he admitted the two assaults and sustained threatening behaviour.
Noise feud boils over
A fisherman embroiled in a “tit-for-tat” battle over noise sent his drummer neighbour a threatening message saying he would burn their block of flats down.
Jason Campbell, 46, made the threat after he was shouted at for playing loud music in the early hours of the morning, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
Fiscal depute Victoria Silver said the incident happened shortly after 2am on July 27 this year after Campbell’s upstairs neighbour became “agitated regarding the noise” blaring from Campbell’s flat, on Elgin’s Morriston Road.
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Driver paid huge price for careless crash
A driver who spent two months in a coma and lost the ability to speak English after a devastating crash has been fined over the incident.
Karol Skelnik, who is originally from Poland, has no memory of his life in the UK prior to the Parkway crash and can no longer look after himself, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
The 23-year-old was going almost double the speed limit when he lost control of his red Ford Mondeo near Danestone Farm and collided with another vehicle coming in the opposite direction.
Jail for would-be robber
A would-be robber whose attempt to hold up a shop with a screwdriver was thwarted by a school-run mum has been jailed for 18 months.
Jason Ryan pulled the tool from his pocket and lunged at a staff member at Mooney’s in Merkinch when she refused to serve him alcohol before 10am.
But brave school-run mum Michelle Fraser sprung into action, tackling Ryan to the floor and pinning him there until he was subdued.
Man accused of posting intimate video on Snapchat
A 19-year-old man is facing an allegation that he uploaded a video of himself and a woman engaging in a sexual act to Snapchat.
Charles Milne is accused of one charge of intending to cause “fear alarm or distress” by uploading the footage to the popular social media app without the woman’s consent.
It is claimed the video was uploaded from an address in Aberdeen last month.
Paedophile teacher loses appeal
A paedophile teacher who lost his job after downloading graphic images of child abuse has failed to cut his prison sentence on appeal.
Blair Paton, 39, was given a 12-month jail term in July this year after pleading guilty to possessing 1,700 indecent images.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how more than 200 of the images depicted “the most serious” sexual abuse of children.
Some of the children captured in the images were as young as five.
Fashion shop boss jailed
The boss of a high-end fashion shop has been jailed after he subjected his girlfriend to a series of violent assaults and emotional abuse.
Ryan Steehouder – who owned the Aberdeen clothes store 1 Off – physically and mentally abused the woman for more than a year and repeatedly breached court orders to stay away from her.
The 32-year-old admitted a catalogue of charges against his ex-girlfriend, including slamming her head against a car window and posting on social media that he was sitting outside her home with a knife.
Video: Paedophile confronted on doorstep
Paedophile hunters posing as a 13-year-old girl snared a man who went on to send her explicit videos and invite her to an orgy.
Raymond Boyne, 64, asked the decoy whether her mum was home and encouraged her to delete her messages.
But the communications had all been logged by a voluntary child protection group, which live-streamed a confrontation with Boyne on his Elgin doorstep over social media before passing their evidence to the police.
Teen killer threatened prison guards with scissors
A convicted killer who knifed a teenager to death while he was on bail has threatened prison officers with scissors during an attempted escape from hospital, a court was told.
Ross Anderson was found guilty of the culpable homicide of 17-year-old Adam Paton, from Brechin, following a seven-day trial at the High Court in Aberdeen in 2009.
The 31-year-old, whose drug addict mum gave birth to him in prison, viciously stabbed his friend’s head and body in Montrose on April 24 2008.
Stalker still can’t get hospital bed
A dangerous stalker is still languishing in prison and unable to be sentenced – almost five months after a hospital bed was ordered so his mental health could be assessed.
High-risk sex offender Jon Coltart, 39, has been locked up in HMP Grampian since April 20 while he waits for a psychiatric bed to become available in the NHS Fife area.
He has pleaded guilty to stalking an Aberdeen medical student by sending her sinister messages about Satan and claiming she was his wife.
Single-punch attack on Union Street
A man broke his victim’s cheekbone with one punch during an altercation in Aberdeen city centre, a court has heard.
Christopher Reid, 36, was walking past two men on Union Street when he suddenly barged into them and punched one in the eye.
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary heard that a hospital x-ray later showed that Reid had shattered his victim’s cheekbone.
Elgin barbershop owner in court
A Moray businessman who domestically abused his wife has been ordered to keep away from her for three years.
Barbershop owner Akbar Kakayi was found guilty after a trial at Elgin Sheriff Court of domestic assault and a further charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
The charges against the Golden Cutz owner state that he seized his wife by the hair and dragged and pulled her body at their Lhanbryde home on April 23 this year.
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.
Flashing serial thief
A violent, flashing serial thief has been caged after battering a Morrisons security guard just a week after getting out of prison.
Ian Gray admitted a shocking catalogue of offending, including dropping his trousers and performing a solo sex act in public.
Gray, 41, also pretended to steal a bottle of vodka from Morrisons on King Street as part of a “ruse” but repeatedly punched an employee who challenged him.
Council worker attacked with bucket
A farmer lashed out at an animal welfare officer and lamped the council worker with a bucket at Orkney auction mart, a court has been told.
William Flett, 64, struck the man on the side of his face in a grievance with officialdom, Kirkwall Sheriff Court heard.
Procurator fiscal Sue Foard said the Orkney Islands Council officer is part of an ongoing investigation into the farm at Boardhouse, Birsay.
Cancer sufferer grew his own cannabis
A cancer victim caught with more than £11,000 worth of cannabis plants told police he was smoking the drug as an alternative to opioid painkillers.
Sean Youngson’s home on Hutcheon Court in Aberdeen was raided by officers who found he was producing the drug and had 14 cannabis plants growing in his bedroom.
Youngson, who has previous convictions for drug possession, was growing the plants over a three-month period.
North-east building boss admits firm destroyed badger setts
The director of a north-east construction firm has admitted he gave the go-ahead to work that flattened active badger setts at a housing development in Aberdeen.
Bruce Allan, director of Malcolm Allan Housebuilders, accepted responsibility in court for allowing an access route to be built on top of the setts where up to 30 badgers lived in Milltimber.
Allan’s firm had been warned by a resident that the protected species was present at the Contlaw Road site, but had received a “brusque reply basically telling him to mind his own business”.
Controlling husband in the dock
A jealous and controlling husband monitored his wife’s phone, checked the mileage on their car after she’d used it and even threatened to kill her.
Peter Seivwright subjected his partner to more than two years of horrific verbal abuse and controlling behaviour.
The 55-year-old regularly accused his long-suffering partner of cheating on him and would go through her phone to make sure she was only speaking to people he approved of.
Exclusive: Former girls’ school music director accused of sexual assaults
The former music director of a top Aberdeen private school has been accused of sexually assaulting two pupils.
Peter Parfitt will stand trial later this year over the allegations, which are said to have happened while he was working at St Margaret’s School for Girls.
The first accuses him of causing the girl “fear or alarm” by “repeatedly seizing hold of her and embracing her”.
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